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THE 



COMPLAINT; 



NIGHT THOUGHTS, 



j^ovtt uf Mtllsim. 



BY EDWARD YOUNG, D. D. 



STEREOTYPED BY T. H. CARTER & CO. 



PUBLISHED BY T. BEDLINGTON, 

NO. 31, WASHINGTON-STREET. 

3fc26. 



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GUuLiM.y 



PREFACE, 



As the occasion of this Poem was real, not fic- 
titious ; so tlie method pursued in it was rather 
imposed by vhat spontaneously arose in the 
Author's mind on that occasion, than meditated 
or designed. Which will appear very probable 
from the nature of it. For it differs from the 
common mode of poetry ; which is, from long 
narrations to draw short morals. Here, on the 
contrary, the narrative is short, and the morality 
arising from it makes the bulk of the Poem, 
The reason of it is, that the facts mentioned did 
naturally pour these moral reflections on the 
thought of the Writer. 



THE COMPLAINT. 



NIGHT I. 



ON LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY. 
TO THE RIGHT HON. ARTHUR ONSLOW, ESQ. 

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 

TiRF.D Nature's sweet restorer, balmy Sleep ! 

He, like the world, his ready visit pays 

Where Fortune smiles ; the wretched he forsakes ; 

Swift on his downy pinion flies from woe, 

And lights on lids unsullied with a tear. 15- 

From short (as usual) and disturb 'd repose 
I wake : how happy they who wake no more ! 
Yet that were vain, if dreams infest the grave. 
I wake, emerging from a sea of dreams 
Tumultuous ; v/liere my wreck'd, desponding thought, 
From wave to wave of fancied misery H 

At random drove, her helm of reason lost. 
Though now restored, 'tis only change of pain, 
(A bitter change !) severer for severe. 
The Day too short for my distress ; and Night, Xp 
K'en in the zenith of her dark domain, 
Is sunshine to the colour of my fate. 

Night, sable goddess ! from her ebon throne, 
In ray less majesty, now stretches forth 
II»r leaden Bceptre o'er a slumbering world. 20 

Silence how dead ! and darkness how profound I 
Nor eye nor listening ear an object finds ; 
Creation sleeps. 'Tis as the general pulse 
Of life stood still, and Nature made a pause ', 
An awful pause ! prophetic of her end* S5 



C Tim COMPLAINT. n. u 

And let her prophecy be soon fuifiU'd : 
Fate ! drop the curtain ; I can lose no more. 

Silence and Darkness ! solemn sisters ! twins 
From ancient Night, who nurse the tender though 
To Reason, and on reason build resolve 30 

(That column of true majesty in man,) 
Assist me : I will thank you in the grave ; 
The grave your kingdom : there this frame shall fall 
A victim sacred to your dreary shrine. 
JBut what are ye ? — 35 

Thou who didst put to flight 
Primeval Silence, when the morning stars, 
Exulting, shouted o'er the rising ball ; 

Thou ! whose word from solid darkness struck 
That spark, the Sun, strike wisdom from my soul ; 40 
My soul, which flies to thee, her trust, her treasure) 
As misers to their gold, while others rest. 
Through this opaque of Nature and of Soul, 

This double night, transmit one pitying ray, 

To lighten and to cheer. O lead my mind 45 

(A mind that fain would wander from its woe,) 

Lead it through various scenes of life and death, 

And from each scene the noblest truths inspire. 

Nor less inspire my conduct than my song ; 

Teach my best reason, reason ; my best will 50 

Teach rectitude ; and fix my firm resolve 

Wisdom to wed, and pay her long arrear : 

Nor let the phial of thy vengeance, pour'd 

On this devoted head, be poured in vain. 

The bell strikes one. We take no note of time 55 
But from its '.oss : to give it then a tongue 
Is wise in nian. As if an angel spoke 

1 feel the solemn sound. If heard aright. 
It is the knell of my departed hours. 

Where are they ? With the years beyond the flood. 60 
It is the signal that demands despatch : 
How much is to be done ! My hopes and fears 
SjE^rt up*alirmd. ajid o'er life's narrow verge 



ON LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY. 7 

Look down— on what ? A fathomless cibyss. 

A dread eternity ! how surely mine ! 05 

And can eternity belong to me, 

Poor pensioner on the bounties of an hour ? 

How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, 
How complicate, how wonderful, is man ! 
How passing wonder He who made him such ! 70 

Who centred in our make such strange extremes ! 
From different natures marvellously mix'd. 
Connexion exquisite of distant worlds ! 
Distinguished link in being's endless chain I 
Midway from nothing to the Deity ! 75 

A beam ethereal, sullied and a,b3orb'd ! 
Though sullied atid dishontour'd, still divine ! 
Dim miniature of greatness absolute ! 
An heir of glory ! a frail child of dust ! 
Helpless immortal ! insect infinite I 80 

A worm I A god ! — I tremble at myself, 
And in myself am lost. At Uorae a stranger, 
Thought wanders up and down, surprised, aghast, 
And wondering at her own. How Reason reels ! 
O what a miracle to man is man ! 85 

Triumphantly distress'd ! what joy ! what dread ! 
Alternately transported and alarm'd ; 
What can preserve my life ! or what destroy . 
An angel's arm can't snatch me from- the grave ; 
Legions of angels can't confine me there. 90 

'Tis past conjecture ; all things rise in proof: 
While o'er my limbs Sleep's soft dominion spreads, 
What though my soul fantastic measures trod 
O'er fairy fields, or mourn'd along the gloom *^' 

Of pathless woods, or down the craggy steep 95 

Huri'd headlong, swam with pain the mantled pool, 
Or scaled the cliff, or danced on hollow winds 
With antic shapes, wild natives of the brain ! 
Her ceaseless flight, though devious, speaks her nature 
Of subtler essence than the trodden clod ; 100 

Active, aerial, towering, unconfined, 



3 TPIE COMPLAINT. n. i. 

Unfettered with her gross companion's fall. 

E'en silent Night proclaims my soul immortal : 

E'en silent Night proclaims eternal day ! 

For human weal Heaven husbands all events : 105 

Dull Sleep instructs, nor sport vain dl jams in vain. 

Why then their loss deplore, that are not lost ? 
Why wanders wretched Thought their tombs around 
In infidel distress ? Are angels there ? 
Slumbers, raked up in dust, ethereal fire .' 110 

They live ! they greatly live ! a life on earth 
^Unkindled, unconceived, and from an eye 
Of tenderness let heavenly pity fall 
On me, more justly number'd with the dead. 
This is the desert, this the solitude : 115 

Hov/ populous, how vital is the grave ! 
This is Creation's melancholy vaidt, 
The vale funereal, the sad cypress gloom ; 
The land of apparitions, empty shades ! 
All, all on earth is shadow, all beyond 120 

Is substance ; the reverse is Folly's creed. 
How solid all, where change shall be no more ! 

This is the bud of being, the dim dawn, 
The twilight of our day, the vestibule : 
Life's theatre, as yet is shut ; and Death, 125 

Strong Death, alone can heave the massy bar, 
This gross impediment of clay remove, 
And make us, embryos of existence, free. 
From, real life but little more remote 
Is he, not yet a candidate for light, 130 

Tlie future embryo, slumbering in his sire. 
Embryos we must be till we burst the shell, 
Yon ambient azure shell, and spring to life, 
The life of gods, O transport ! and of man. / 

Yet man, fool man ! here buries all his thoughts, 
Inters celestial hopes without one sigh : 136 

Prisoner of earth and pent beneath the moon. 
Here pinions all his wishes ; wing'd by Heaven 
To fly at infinite, and reach it there, 



ON LIFE, DEATH, AN^D IMMORTALITY. 9 

Where seraph's gather immortality. 140 

On Life's fair tree fast by the throne of God, 

What golden joys ambrosial clustering glow 

In His full beamj and ripen for the just, 

Where momentary ages are no more ! 

Where Time, and Pain, and Chance, and Death expire ! 

And is it in the flight of threescore years 146 

To push eternity from human thought, 

And smother souls immortal in the dust ? 

A soul immortal, spending all her fires, 

Wasting her strength in strenuous idleness, ' 150 

Thrown into tumult, raptured, or alarm'd 

At aught this scene can threaten or indulge, 

Resembles ocean into tempest wrought, 

To waft a feather or to drown a fly. 

Where falls this censure ? it o'erwhelms myself} 
How was my heart instructed by the world ! 156 

O how self-fetter'd was my grovelling soul ! 
How like a worm, was I wrapp'd. round and round 
In silken thought, which reptile Fancy spun. 
Till darken'd Reason lay quite clouded o'er 160 

With soft conceit of endless comfort here, 
Nor yet put forth her wings to reach the skies ! 

Night visions may befriend (as sung above :) 
Our waking dreams are fatal. How I dream'd, 
Of things impossible ! (could sleep do more ?) 165 

Of joys perpetual in perpetual change ! 
Of stable pleasures on the tossing vmve ; 
Eternal sunshine in the storms of life ! 
' How richly were my noontide trances hung 
With gorgeous tapestries of pictured joys, 170 

Joy behind joy, in endless perspective ; 
Till at Death's toll, whose restless iron tongue 
Calls daily for his millions at a meal, 
• Starting I woke, and found m)-self undone. 
Where now my frenzy's pompous furniture ? 175 

The cobweb'd cottage, with its ragged wall 
Of moulderinrr mud. is rovaltv tome ! 



10 THE COMPLAINT. ^. i. 

The spider's most attenuated thread 
Is cord, is cable, to man's tender tie 
On earthly bliss: it breaks at every breeze. 480 

O ye bless'd scenes of permanent delight ! 
Full above measure ! lasting beyond bound ! 
A perpetuity of bliss is bliss. 
Could you, so rich in rapture, fear an end, 
That ghastly thought would drink up all your joy, 
And quite unparadise the realms of light. 18C 

Safe are you lodged above these rolling spheres, 
The baleful influence of whose giddy dance 
Sheds sad vicissitude on all beneath. 
Here teems with revolutions every hour, 190 

And rarely for the better ; or the best 
More mortal than the common births of Fate. 
Each moment has its sickle, emulous 
Of Time's enormous scythe, whose ample sweep 
Strikes empires from the root ; each moment plays 
His little weapon in the narrower sphere 196 

Of sweet doinestic comfort, and cuts down 
The fairest bloom of sublunary bliss. 

Bliss ! sublunary bliss ! — proud words, and vain ! 
Implicit treason to divine decree ! 200 

A bold invasion of the rights of Heaven ! 
I clasp'd the phantoms, and I found them air. 
O had I weigh'd it ere my fond embrace, 
What darts of agony had miss'd my heart ! 

Death ! great proprietor of all ! 'tis thine 205 

To tread out empire, and to quench the stars. 
The Sun himself by thy permission shines, 
And, one day, thou shalt pluck him from his sphere : 
Amid such mighty plunder, why exhaust 
Thy partial quiver on a mark so mean ? 210 

Why tliy peculiar rancour wreak'd on mc ? 
Insatiate archer ! could not one suffice .'' 
Thy shaft flew thrice, and thrice my peace was slain ; 
And thrice, ere thrice yon moon had fill'd her horn. 
O Cynthia! why so pale ? dost thou lament 215 



ON LIFE, DEATH, AND LMMORTALITY. il 

Thy wretched neighbour ? grieve to see thy Avhecl 

Of ceaseless change outwhirl'd in human life .-' 

How wanes my borrow'd bliss ! from Fortune's smile, 

Precarious courtesy ! not Virtue's sure. 

Self-given, solar, ray of sound delight. 220 

In every varied posture, place, and hour, 
How widow'd every thought of every joy ! 
Thought, busy thought ! too busy for my peace, 
Through the dark postern of time long elapsed, 
Led softly, by the stillness of the night, 225 

Led^ like a murderer, (and such it proves !) 
Strays (wretched rover !) o'er the pleasing past ; 
In quest of wretchedness perversely strays. 
And finds all desert now ; and meets the ghosts 
Of my departed joys, a numerous train ! 230 

I rue the riches of my former fate ; 
Sweet comfort's blasted clusters I lament ; 
I tremble at the blessings once so dear, 
And every pleasure pains me to the heart. 

Yet why complain ? or why complain for one ? 235 
Hangs out the Sun his lustre but for me, 
The single man ? are angels all beside ? 
I mourn for millions ; 'tis the common lot : 
In this shape or in that has Fate entail'd 
The mother's throes on all o€ woman born ; 240 

Not more the children than sure heirs of pain. 

War, famine, pest, volcano, storm, and fire, 
Intestine broils. Oppression, with her heart 
Wrapp'd up in triple brass, besiege mankind. 
God's image, disinherited of day, 245 

Here plunged in mines, forgets a Sun was made : 
There beings, deathless as their haughty lord, 
Are hammer'd to the galling oar for life, 
And plough the winter's wave, and reap despair. 
Some for hard masters, broken under arms, 250 

In battle lopp'd away, with half their limbs. 
Beg bitter bread through realms their valour saved, 
Tf so the f yf^t or his iniiiion dqoiii. 



12 THE COMPLAINT. n. u 

Want, and incurable disease, (fell pair !) 

On hopeless multitudes remorseless seize 255 

At once, and make a refuge of the grave. 

How groaning hospitals eject their dead ! 

What numbers groan for sad admission there ! 

What numbers, once in Fortune's lap high fed, 

Solicit the cold hand of Charity ! 260 

To shock us more, solicit it in vain ! 

Ye silken sons of Pleasure ! since in pains 

You rue more modish visits, visit here, 

And breathe from your debauch : give, and reduce 

Surfeit's dominion o'er you. But so great 265 

Your impudence, you blush at what is right. 

Happy ! did sorrow seize on such alone. 
Not prudence can defend, or virtue save, 
Disease invades the chastest temperance ; 
And punishment the guiltless ; and alarm, 270 

Through thickest shades, pursues the fond of peace. 
Mans caution often into danger turns. 
And his guard, falling, crushes him to death. 
Not Happiness itself makes good her name ; 
Our very wishes give us not our wish. 275 

How distant oft the thing we dote on most 
From that for which we dote, felicity ! 
The smoothest course of Nature has its pains. 
And truest friends, through error, wound our rest. 
Without misfortune, what calamities ! 280 

And what hostilities, without a foe ! 
Nor are foes wanting to the best on earth. 
But endless is the list of human ills. 
And sighs might sooner fail than cause to sigh. 

A part how small of the terraqueous globe 285 

Is tenanted by man ! the rest a waste, 
Rocks, deserts, frozen seas, and burning sands 1 
Wild haunts of monsters, poisons, stings, and death. 
Such is Earth's melancholy map ! but, far 
More sad ! this earth is a true map of man : 290 

So bounded are its haughty lord's delights 



ON LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY. 13 

To Woe's wide empire, where deep troubles tosy. 
Loud sorrov/s howl, envenom'd passions bite, 
Ravenous calamities our vitals seize, 
And threatening Fate wide opens to devour. 295 

What then am I, who sorrow for myself? 
In age, in infancy, from others' aid 
Is all our hope ; to teach us to be kind : 
That Nature's first, last lesson to mankind. 
The selfish heart deserves the pain it feels : 300 

More generous sorrow, while it sinks exalts. 
And conscious virtue mitigates the pang, 
Nor virtue more than prudence bids me give 
Swoln thought a second channel : who divide, 
They weaken too, the torrent of their grief. 305 

Take, then, O W^orld ! thy much indebted tear : 
How sad a sight is human happiness 
To those, whose thought can pierce beyond an hour ! 

thou ! whate'er thou art, whose heart exults, 
Wouldst thou I should congratulate thy fate ! 310 

1 know thou wouldst ; thy pride demands it from me : 
Let thy pride pardon what thy Nature needs, 

The salutary censure of a friend. 

Thou happy wretch ! by blindness thou art bless'd ', 

By dotage dandled to perpetual smiles. 315 

Know, smiler ! at thy peril art thou pleased ; 

Thy pleasure is the promise of thy pain. 

Misfortune, like a creditor severe, 

But rises in demand for her delay ; 

She makes a scourge of vast prosperity, 320 

To sting thee more, and double thy distress. 

Lorenzo ! Fortune makes her court to thee ; 
Thy fond heart dances while the siren sings. 
Dear is thy welfare ! think me not unkind ; • 
I would not damp, but to secure thy joys. 325 

Think not that fear is sacred to the storm ; 
Stand on thy guard against the smiles of Fate. 
Is Hi-aven tremendous in its frowns ? most sure ; 
And in its favours formidable too : 
2 



14 THE COMPLAINT. n. r. 

Its favours here are trials, not rewards ; 330 

A call to duty, not discharge from care, 

And should alarm us full as much as woes, 

Awake us to their cause and consequence, 

O'er our scann'd conduct give a jealous eye. 

And make us tremble, yeigh'd with our desert j 335 

Awe Nature's tumult, and chastise her joys. 

Lest while we clasp we kill them ; nay, invert 

To worse than simple misery their charms. 

Revolted joys, like foes in civil war. 

Like bosom friendships to resentment sour'd, 340 

With rage envenom'd rise against our peace. 

Beware what earth calls happiness ; beware 

All joys but joys that never can expire. 

Who builds on less than an iinmortal base, 

Fond as he seems, condemns his joys to death- 345 

Mine died with thee, Philander ; thy last sigh 
Dissolved the charm ; the disenchanted earth 
Lost all her lustr«. Where her glittering towers .'' 
Her golden mountains where ? all darken'd down 
To naked waste ; a dreary vale of tears. 350 

The great magician's dead ! Thou poor, pale piecO 
Of outcast earth, in darkness : what a change 
From yesterday ! Thy darling hope so near, 
(Long-labour'd prize !) O how ambition flush'd 
Thy glowing cheek ! ambition truly great, 355 

Of virtuous praise. Death's subtle seed within, 
(Sly, treacherous miner !) working hi the dark, 
Smiled at thy well concerted scheme, and beckon'd 
The worm to riot on that rose so red, 
Unfaded ere it fell, one moment's prey ! 3C0 

Man's foresight is conditionally wise ; 
liorenzo ! wisdom into folly turns 
Oft, the first instant ; its idea fair 
To labouring thought is born. How dim our eye ! 
The present moment terminates our sight ; 305 

Clouds, thick as those on Doomsday, drown the next; 
V/p penetriitC; we prophesy in vain, 



ON LIFE, DEATH, AND IMxMORTALITY. 15 

Time is dealt out by particles, and each 

Are mingled with the streaming sands of life. 

By Fate's inviolable oath is sworn 370 

Deep silence, — where Eternity begins. 

By Nature's law, what may be may be now ; 
There's no prerogative in human hours. 
In human hearts what bolder thought can rise 
Than man's presumption on to-morrow's dawn .'' 375 
Where is to-morrow .'' In another world. 
For numbers this is certain ; the reverse 
Is sure to none ; and yet on this,perhaps, 
This per adventure, infamous for lies, 
As on a rock of adamant, we build 380 

Our mountain hopes, spin out eternal schemes, 
As we the Fatal Sisters could outspin. 
And, big with life's futurities, expire. 

Not e'en Philander had bespoke his shroud ; 
Nor had he cause ; a warning was denied. 385 

How many fall as sudden, not as safe ! 
As sudden, though for years admonish'd home j 
Of human ills the last extreme beware ; 
Beware, Lorenzo ! a slow, sadden death : 
How dreadful that deliberate surprise ! 390 

Be wise to-day ; 'tis madness to defer : 
Next day the fatal precedent will plead ; 
Thus on, till wisdom is push'd out of life. 
Procrastination is the thief of time ; 
Year after year it steals, till all are fled, 395 

And to the mercies of a moment leaves 
The vast concerns of an eternal scene. 
If not so frequent, would not this be strange ? 
That 'tis so frequent, this is stranger still. 

Of man's miraculous mistakes this bears 400 

The palm, ' That all men are about to live,' 
For ever on the brink of being born : 
All pay themselves the compliment to think 
They one day shall not drivel, and their pride 
On this reversion takes up ready praise 3 405 



J6 THE COMPLAINT. n. i. 

At least their own ; their future selves applauds. 

How excellent that life they ne'er will lead ! 

Time lodged in their own hands is Folly's vails ] 

That lodged in Fate's to wisdom they consign j 

Tlie thing they can't but purpose they postpone. 410 

'Tis not in folly not to scorn a fool, 

And scarce in human wisdom to do more. 

All promise is poor dilatory man, 

And that through every stage. When young, indeed, 

In full content we sometimes nobly rest, 415 

Unanxious for ourselves, and only wish, 

As duteous sons, our fathers were more wise. 

At thirty man suspects himself a fool ; 

Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan ; 

At fifty chides his infamous delay, 420 

Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve ', 

In all the magnanimity of thought 

Resolves, and re-resolves ; then dies the same. 

And why ? because he thinks himself immortal. 
All men think all men mortal but themselves ; 42.5 
Themselves, when some alarming shock of Fate 
Strikes through their wounded hearts the sudden dread : 
But their hearts wounded, like the wounded air, 
Soon close ; where pass'd the shaft no trace is found. 
As from the wing no scar the sky retains, 430 

The parted wave no furrow from the keel. 
So dies in human hearts the thought of death : 
E'en with the tender tear which Nature sheds 
O'er those we love, we drop it in their grave. 
Can I forget Philander ? that wore strange ! 435 

my full heart ! — But should I give it vent, 
The longest night, though longer far, would fail, 
And the lark listen to my midnight song. 

The sprightly lark's shrill matin wakes the morn ; 
Grief's sharpest thorn hard pressing on my breast, 

1 strive, with wakeful melody, to cheer 441 
The sullen gloom, sweet Philomel ! like thee, 

And call the stars to listen : every star 



ON LIFE, DEATPI, AND IMMORTALITY. 17 

Is deaf to mine, enamour'd of thy lay. 

Yet be not vain ; there are who thine excel, 445 

And charm through distant ages. Wrapp'd in shad^ 

Prisoner of darkness ! to the silent hours 

How often I repeat their rage divine. 

To lull my griefs, and steal my heart from woe ! 

I roll their raptures, but not catch their fire. 450 

Dark, though not blind, like thee, Moeonides ! 

Or, Milton ! thee ; ah, could I reach your strain ! 

Or his* who made Mseonides our own. 

Man, too, he svmg : immortal man I sing : 

Oft bursts my song beyond the bounds of life : 455 

What, now, but immortality can please ? 

O had he press'd his theme, pursued the track 

Which opens out of darkness into day ! 

O had he mounted on his wing of fire, 

Soar'd where I sink, and sung immortal man, 460 

How had it bless'd mankind, and rescued me ! 

* Pope. 
2* 



NIGHT 11. 



ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 
TO THE 

RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF WILMINGTON. 

' When the cock crew, he wept,' — smote by that eye 

Wliich looks on me, on all ; that Power who buis 

This midnight sentinel, with clarion siuiil, 

Emblem of that v/hich shall fiwako the dead, 

Rouse souls from slumber, into thoughts of Heaven. 5 

Shall I too weep .'* where then is fortitude ? 

And fortitude abandoned, where is man .'' 

I know the terms on which he sees the light : 

^e that is born is listed : life is war ; 

Eternal war with woe : who bears it best 10 

Deserves it least. — On other themes 111 dwell. 

Lorenzo ! let me turn my thoughts on thee ; 

And thine on themes may profit ; profit there 

Where most thy need. Themes, too, the genuine 

growth 
Of dear Philander s dust. He thus, though dead, 15 
May still befriend. — What themes .'' Time's wondrous 

price, 
Death, friendship, and Philander 's final scene. 

So could I touch these themes as might obtain 
Thine ear, nor leave thy heart quite disengaged, 
The good deed would delight me ; half impress 20 
On my dark cloud an Iris*, and from grief 
Call glory. — Dost thou mourn Philander's fate .'' 
I know thou sayst it : says thy life the same ? 
H • Taourns the dead who lives as they desire. 



ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 19 
Where is that thirst, tliat avarice of Time, 25 

(O glorious avarice !) thought of death inspires, 
As rumour'd robberies endear our gold ? 
O Time ! than gold more sacred ; more a load 
Than lead to fools, and fools reputed wise. 
What moment granted man without account ? 30 

What years are squander'd, Wisdom's debt unpaid ? 
Our wealth in days all due to that discharge. 
Haste, haste, he lies in wait, he's at the door ; 
Insidious Death ! should his strong hand arrest, 
No composition sets the prisoner free, 35 

Eternity's inexorable chain 
Fast binds, and vengeance claims the full arrear. 

How late I shudder'd on the brink ! how late 
Life call'd for her last refuge in despair ! 
That time is mine, O Mead ! to tliee I owe ; 40 

Fain would I pay thee with eternity. 
But ill ray genius answers my desire : 
My sickly song is mortal, past thy cure. 
Accept the will : — that dies not with ray strain. 

For what calls thy disease, Lorenzo ? not 45 

For Esculapian, but for moral aid. 
Thou think'st it folly to be wise too soon. 
Youth is not rich in time ; it may be poor : 
Part with it as with money, snaring ; pay 
No moment, but in purchase of its worth ; 50 

And what it's worth, ask deathbeds ; they can tell. 
Part with' it as v.-ith life, reluctant ; big 
With holy hope of nobler time to come ; 
Time higher aim'd, still nearer the great mark 
Of men and angels, virtue more divine. 55 

Is this our duty, wisdom, glory, gain ? 
(These Heaven benign in vital union binds) 
And sport we like the natives of the bough, 
When vernal suns inspire ? Amusement reigns, 
Man's great demand : to trifle is to live : 60 

And is it then a trifl j, too, to die ? 

Thou say'st I preach, Lorenzo I 'tis confess'd. 



20 THE COMPLAINT. ^s. n> 

What if, for once, I preach thee quite awake ? 

Who wants amusement in the flame of battle ? 

Is it not treason to the soul immortal, 65 

Her foes in arms, eternity the prize ? 

Will to3^s amuse when medicines cannot cure ? 

When spirits ebb, when life's enchanting scenes 

Their lustre lose, and lessen in our sight. 

As lands and cities with their glittering spires, 70 

To the poor shatter'd bark, by sudden storm 

Thrown off to sea, and soon to perish there ; 

Will toys amuse ? No ; thrones will then be toys, 

And earth and skies seem dust upon the scale. 

Redeem we time ? — Its loss we dearly buy. 75 

What pleads Lorenzo for his high prized sports ? 
He pleads Time's numerous blanks j he loudly pleads 
The strawlike trifles on Life's common stream. 
From whom those blanks and trifles but from thee .' 
No blank, no trifle Nature made or meant. 80 

Virtue, or purposed virtue, still be thine ; 
This cancels thy complaint at once ; this leaves 
In act no trifle, and no blank in time. 
This grcatens, fills, immortalizes all ; 
This the bless'd art of turning all to gold ; 85 

This the good heart's prerogative to raise 
A royal tribute from the poorest hours : 
Immense revenue ! every moment pays. 
If nothing more than purpose in thy power, 
Thy purpose firm is equal to the deed. 90 

Who does the best his circumstance allows 
Does well, acts nobly ; angels could no more. 
Our outward act, .indeed, admits restraint : 
"Tis not in things o'er thouglit to domineer. 
Guard well thy thought : our thoughts are heard in 
Heaven ! 95 

On all important time, through every age. 
Though mucli, and warm, the v^risc have urged', the man 
Is yet unborn who duly weighs an hour. 
* I've lost a day,' — the prince who nobly cried, 



ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 21 

Had been an emperor without his crown. 1,00 

Of Rome .'' say, rather, lord of human race ; 

He spoke as if deputed by mankind. 

So should all speak : so reason speaks in all 

From the soft whispers of that God in man, 

"Why fly to folly, why to frenzy fly, 105 

For rescue from the blessings we possess ? 

Time, the supreme ! — Time is Eternity ; 

Pregnant with all eternity can give ; 

Pregnant with all that makes archangels smile. 

Who murders Time, he crushes in the birth 110 

A power ethereal, only not adored. 

Ah ! how unjust to Nature and himself 
Is thoughtless, thankless, inconsistent man ! 
Like children babbling nonsense in their sports 
We censure Nature for a span too short ; 3 15 

That span too short we tax as tedious too ; 
Torture invention, all expedients tire, 
To lash the lingering moments into speed. 
And whirl us (happy riddance !) from ourselves. 
Art, brainless Art ! our furious charioteer, 120 

(For Nature's voice uiistifled would recal) 
Drives headlong towards the precipice of death ; 
Death most our dread; death thus more dreadful made: 
O what a riddle of absurdity ! 

Leisure is pain ; takes olT our cliariot wheels : 125 
How heavily we drag the load of life ! 
JBless'd leisure is our curse ; like that of Cain, 
It makes us wander, wander earth around. 
To fly that tyrant Thought. As Atlas groan'd 
The world beneath, we groan bi^neath an hour : 130 
We cry for mercy to the next amusement ; 
The next amusement mortgages our fields ; 
Slight inconvenience ! prisons hardly frown, 
From hateful time if prisons set us free. 
Yet when Death kindly tenders us relief, 135 

We call him cruel ; years to moments shrink, 



22 • THE COMPLAINT. n. it. 

Ages to years. The telescope is turn'd : 

To man's false optics (from his folly false) 

Time, in advance, behind him hides his wings, x. 

And seems to creep, decrepit with his age, 14Q 

Behold him when pass'd by ; what then is seen 

But his broad pinions swifter than the w^inds ? 

And all mankind, in contradiction strong, 

Rueful, aghast, cry out on his career. 

Leave to thy foes these errors and these ills ; 145- 
To Nature just, their cause and cure explore. 
Not short Heaven's bounty, boundless our expense ; 
No niggard Nature, men are prodigals. 
We waste, not use our time ; we breathe, not live. 
Time wasted is existence ; used, is life : ISO 

And bare existence man, to live ordain'd, 
Wrings and oppresses with enormous weight. 
And why .'' since time was given for use, not waste, 
Enjoin'd to fly, with tempest, tide, and stars. 
To keep his speed, nor ever wait for man.. 155 

Time's use was doom'd a pleasure, waste a pain, 
That man might feel his error if unseen, 
And, feeling, fly to labour for his cure ; 
Not, blundering, split on idleness for ease. ISO" 

Life's cares are comforts ; such by Heaven design'd y 
He that has none must make them, or be wretched. 
Cares are employments, and without employ 
The soul is on a rack, the rack of rest, 
To souls most adverse, action all their joy. 

Here then the riddle, mark'd above, unfolds ; 165 
Then Time turns torment, when man turns a fool. 
We rave, we wrestle with great Nature's plan ; 
We thwart the Deity ; and 'tis decreed. 
Who thwart His will shall contradict their own. 
Hence our unnatural quarrels with ourselves j 170 
Our thoughts at enmity ; our bosom-broil : 
We push Time from us, and we wish him back ; 
Lavish of lustrums, and 3^et fond of life : 



ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 23 

Life we think long and short , death seek and shun : 
Body and soul, like peevish man and wife, 175 

United jar, and yet are loath to part. 

Oh the dark days of vanity ! while here 
How tasteless ! and how terribJe when gone ! 
Gone .'' they ne'er go ; when pass'd, they haunt us still . 
The spirit walks of every day deceased, 180 

And smiles an angel, or a fury frowns. 
Nor death nor life delight us. If time past 
And time possess'd both pain us, what can please .'' 
That which the Deity to please ordain'd, 
Time used. The man who consecrates his hours 185 
By vigorous effort and an honest aim. 
At once he draws the sting of life and death ; 
He walks with Nature, and her paths are peace. 

Our error's cause and cure are seen : see next 
Time's nature, origin, importance, speed," 190 

And thy great gain from urging his career, — 
All sensual man, because untouch'd, unseen, 
He looks on Time as nothing. Nothing else 
Is truly man's ; 'tis Fortune's. — Time's a god ! 
Hast thou ne'er heard of Time's omnipotence ? 195 
For, or against, what wonders can he do ! 
And will : to stand blank neuter he disdains. 
Not on those terms was Time (Heaven's stranger !) sent 
On h^s important embassy to man. 
Jjorenzo ! no : on the long-destined hour, 200 

From everlasting ages growing ripe. 
That memorable hour of wondrous birth, 
When the Dread Sire, on emanation bent. 
And big with Nature, rising in his might, 
Caird forth Creation (for then Time was born) 205 
By Godhead streaming through a thousand worlds ; 
Not on those terms, from the great days of Heaven, 
From old Eternity's mysterious orb 
Was Time cut off, and cast beneath the skies ; 
The skies, which watch him in his new abode, 210 
Measuring his motions by revolving spheres, 



34 THE COMPLAINT. n. ir 

That horologe machinery divme. 

Hours, days, and months, and years, lus children, play, 

Like nuniorous wings, around him, as he flies } 

Or rather, as unequal plumes they shape 215 

His ample pinions, swift as darted flame, 

To gain his goal, to reach his ancient rest, 

And join anew Eternity, his sire ; 

In his immutability to nest, 219 

When worlds, that count his circles now, unhinged 

(Fate the loud signal sounding) headlong rush 

To timeless night and chaos, whence they rose. 

Why spur tlie speedy ^ why with levities 
New-wing thy short, short day's too rapid flight ? 
Know'st tJiou or what thou dost, or what is done ? 225 
Man flies from Time, and Time from man : too soon, 
In sad divorce, this double flight must end ; 
And then where are we ? where, Lorenzo i then, 
Thy sports, thy pomps ? I grant thee in a state 
Not unambitious ; in the ruffled shroud, 230 

Thy Parian tomb's triumphant arch beneath. 
Has Death his fopperies ? then well may Life 
Put on her plume, and in her rainbow shine. 

Ye well array'd ! ye lilies of our land ! 
Ye lilies male ! who neither toil nor spin, 235 

(As sister-lilies might) if not so wise 
As Solomon, more sumptuovis to the sight ! 
Ye delicate ! who nothing can support, 
Yourselves most insupportable ! for whom 
The winter-rose must blow, the Sun put on 240 

A brighter beam in Leo ; silky -^soft, 
Favonious ! breathe still softer, or be chid ; 
And other worlds send odours, sauce, and song. 
And robes, and notions, framed in foreign looms ! 
O ye Lorenzos of our age ! who deem 245 

One moment unamused a misery 
Not made for feeble man ! who call aloud 
For every bauble drivel'd o'er by sense ; 
For rattles and conceits of every cast; 



Ox\ TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 25 
For change of follies and relays of joy, 250 

To drag your patient through the tedious length 

Of a short winter's day say, sages ! say, 

Wit's oracles ! say, dreamers of gay dreams ' 

How will you weather an eternal night, 

Where such expedients fail : — 255 

O treacherous Conscience ! while she seems to sleep 
On rose and myrtle, lull'd with siren song ; 
While she seems, nodding o'er her charge, to drop 
On headlong Appetite the slacken'd rein, 
And give us up to license, unrecall'd, 260 

Unmark'd : see, from behind her secret stand, 
The sly informer minutes every fault, 
And her dread diary with horror fills. 
Not the gross act alone employs her pen } 
She reconnoitres Fancy's airy band. 265 

A watchful foe ! the formidable spy 
Listening, o'erhears the whispers of our camp, 
Our dawning purposes of heart explores, 
And steals our embryos of iniquity. 
As all-rapacious usurers conceal 270 

Their doomsday-book from all-consuming heirs, 
Thus, with indulgence most severe, she treats 
Us spendthrifts of inestimable time, 
Uanoted, notes each moment misapplied ; 
In leaves more durable than leaves of brass 275 

Writes our whole history, which Death shall read 
In every pale delinquent's private ear, 
And judgment publish , publish to more worlds 
Than this, and endless age in groans resound. 
Lorenzo ! such that sleeper in thy breast ; 280 

Such is her slumber, and her vengeance such 
For slighted counsel ; such thy future peace j 
And think'st thou still thou canst be wise too soon ? 

But why on time so lavish is my song .'' 
On this great theme kind Nature keeps a school 285 
To teach her sons herself Each night we die ; 
Eiich morn are born anew : each day a life ' 
3 



.2(3 THE COMPLAINT. ^. ii. 

And shall wc kill each day ? If trifling kills, 

Sure vic^ must butcher. O wh t heaps of slain 

Cry out for vengeance on us ! Time destroy'd 290 

Is suicide, where more than blood is spilt. 

Time flies, death urges, knells call. Heaven invites, 

Hell threatens : all exerts; in efl'ort all, 

More than creation, labours ! Labours more .'' 

And is there in creation what, amidst 295 

This tumult universal, wingd despatch. 

And ardent energy, supinely yawns .'' — 

Man sleeps, and man alone ; and man, whose fate. 

Fate irreversible, entire, extreme, 

Endless, hair-hung, breeze-shaken, o'er the gulf 300 

A moment trembles ; drops ! and man, for whom 

All else is in alarm ; man, the sole cause 

Of this surrounding storm ! and yet he sleeps, 

As the storm rock'd to rest ! — Throw years away .'' 

Throw empires, and be blameless : moments seize, 305 

Heaven's on their wing ; a moment we may wish, 

When worlds want wealth to buy. Bid Day stand still, 

Bid him drive back his car, and reimport 

The period past, regive the given hour. 

Lorenzo) more than miracles we want. 310 

Lorenzo — O for yesterdays to come ! 

Such is the language of the man awake, 
His ardour such for what oppresses thee. 
And is his ardour vain, Lorenzo .' No ; 
That more than miracle the gods indulge. 315 

To-day is yesterday return"d ; return'd 
Full power'd to cancel, expiate, raise, adorn, 
And reinstate us on the rock of peace. 
Let it not share its predecessor's fate, 
Nor, like its elder sisters, die a fool. 320 

Shall it evaporate in fume, fly off 
Fuliginous, and stain us deeper still .'' 
Shall we be poorer for the plent}'' pour'd .'' 
More wretched for the clemencies of Heaven .'' 324 

Where shall I find him : Angels ' tell rae where * 



ON TBIE, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 27 

You know him : he is near you ; point him out. 

Shall I see glories beaming from his brow, 

Or trace his footsteps by the rising flowers ? 

Your golden wings, now hovering o'er him, shed 

Protection ; now are wav ing in applause 330 

To that bless'd son of foresight ! lord of Fate ! 

That awful independent on to-morrow ! 

Whose work is done ; who triumphs in the past j 

Whose yesterdays look backwards with a smile, 

Nor, like the Parthian, wound Tiim as they fly ; 335 

That common bat opprobriqus lot ! Past hours, 

If not by guilt, yet wound us by their flight, 

If folly bounds our prospect by the grave ; 

All feeling of futurity benumbd ; 

All godlike passion for eternals quench'd j 340 

All relish of realities expired ; 

Renounced all correspondence with the skies ; 

Our freedom chain'd ; quite wingless our desire ; 

In sense dark-prison'd all that ought to soar j 

Prone to the centre ; crawling in the dust ; 345 

Dismounted every great and glorious aim ; 

Imbruted every faculty divine ; 

Heart-buried in the rubbish of the world, 

The world, that gulf of souls, immortal souls, 

Souls elevate, angelic, wing'd with fire 350 

To reach the distant skies, and triumph there 

On thrones, which shall not mourn their masters 

changed ; 
Though we from earth, ethereal they that fell. 
Such veneration due, O man to man ! 

Who venerate themselves the world despise. 355 
For what, gay friend ! is this escutcheon'd world, 
Which hangs out death in one eternal night ? 
A night that glooms us in the noontide ray. 
And wraps our thoughts at banquets i)a the shroud. 
Life's little stage is a small eminence, 360 

Inch high the grave above, that home of man, 
Where dwells the multitude : v» e gaze around ; 



f^3 THE COMPLAINT. k. ii. 

We read their monuments ; we sigh ; and while 
We sigh we sink ; and are what we deplored : 
Lamenting or lamented all our lot ! 365 

Is Death at distance ? No ; he has been on thee, 
And given sure earnest of his final blow. 
Those hours that lately smiled, where are they now.'' 
Pallid to thought, and ghastly ! drown'd, all drown'd 
In that great deep which nothing disembogues ! 370 
Andj dying, they bequeath'd thee small renown. 
The rest are on the wing : how fleet their flight ! 
Already has the fatal train took fire ; 
A moment, and the world's blown up to thee 3 
The Sun is darkness, and the stars are dust. 375 

'Tis greatl}'^ wise to talk with our past hours, ^ 
And ask them what report they bore to Heaven, 
And how they might have borne more welcome news 
Their answers form what men Experience call ; 
If Wisdom's friend, her best ; if not, worst foe. 380 
O reconcile them ! kind Experience cries, 
^ There's nothing here but what as nothing weighs j 
The more our joy, the more we know it vain, 
And by success are tutor'd to despair.' 
Nor is it only thus, but must be so. 385 

Who knows not this, though gray, is still a child. 
Loose then from earth the grasp of fond desire ; 
W^eigh anchor, and some happier clime explore. 

Art thou so moor'd thou canst not disengage, 
Nor give thy thoughts a ply to future scenes i 390 
Since by life's passing breath, blown up from earth, 
Light as the summer's dust, we take in air 
A moment's giddy flight, and fall again, 
Join the dull mass, increase the trodden soil, 
And sleep, till Earth herself shall be no more ; 395 
Since then (as emmets, their small world o'erthrown) 
We, sore amazed, from out earth's ruins crawl, 
And rise to fate extreme of foul or fair, 
As man's own choice, (controller of the skies!) 
As man's despotic will, perhaps one hour, 400 



ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 29 
(O how omnipotent is Time !) decrees ; 
Should not each warning give a strong alarm ? 
Warning, far less than that of bosom torn 
From bosom, bleeding o'er the sacred dead ! 
Should not each dial strike us as we pass, 405 

Portentous, as the written wall which struck, 
O'er midnight bowls, the proud Assyrian pale, 
Erewhile high flush'd with insolence and wine ? 
Like that, the dial speaks, and points to thee, 
Lorenzo ! loath to break thy banquet up : — 410 

* O Man ! thy kingdom is departing from thee, 
And, while it lasts, is emptier than my shade.' 
Its silent language such ; nor need'st thou call 
Thy Magi to decipher what it means. 
Know, like the Median, Fate is in thy walls : 41o 

Dost ask how ? whence .'' Belshazzar-like, amazed : 
Man's make encloses the sure seeds of death ; 
Life feeds the murderer : ingrate ! he thrives 
On her own meal, and then his nurse devours. 

But here, Lorenzo, the delusion lies } 420 

That solar shadow, as it measures life, 
It life resembles too. Life speeds away 
From point to point, though seeming to stand still. 
The cunning fugitive is swift by stealth : 
Too subtle is the movement to be seen :. 425 

Yet soon man's hour is up, and we are gone. 
Warnings point out our danger ; gnomons, time : 
As these are useless when the Sun is set. 
So those, but when more glorious Reason shines. 
Reason should judge in all ; in Reason's eye 430 

That sedentary shadow travels hard ; 
But such our gravitation to the wrong. 
So prone our hearts to whisper what we wish, 
'Tis later with the wise than he's aware. 
A Wilmington goes slower than the Sun ; 435 

And all mankind mistake their time of day ; 
E'en Age itself Fresh hopes are hourly sown 
In furrow'd brov.'S. So gentle life's descent, 
3* 



30 THE COMPLAINT. n. ii. 

We shut our eyes, and think it is a plain. 

We take fair days in winter for the spring, 440 

And turn our blessings into bane. Since oft 

Man must compute that age he cannot feel, 

He scarce believes he's older for his years. 

Thus at life's latest eve we keep in store 

One disappointment sure, to crown the rest, 445 

The disappointment of a promised hour. 

On this, or similar, Philander ! thou 
Whose mind was moral as the preacher's tongue. 
And strong to wield all science worth the name, 
How often we talk'd down tixe summer's sun, 450 

And cool'd our passions by the breezy stream ! 
Kow often thaw'd and shorten'd winter's eve 
By conflict kind, that struck out latent truth, 
Best found so sought, to the recluse more coy ! 
Thoughts disentangle passing o'er the lip ; 455 

Clean runs the thread ; if not, 'tis thrown away, 
Or kept to tie up nonsense for a song ; 
Song, fashionably fruitless, such as stains 
The fancy, and unhallov/'d passion fires. 
Chiming her saints to Cythcvea's fane. 460 

Know'st thou, Lorenzo ! what a friend contains ? 
As bees mix"d nectar draw from fragrant flovvei;s, 
So men from Friendship, wisdom and delight ; 
Twins, tied by Nature ; if they part, they die. 
Hast thou no friend to set thy mind abroach ? 4Go 

Good sense v/ill stagnate. Thoughts shut up want air, 
And spoil, like bales unopen'd to the sun. 
Had thought been all, sweet speech had been denied ; 
Speech ! thought's canal ; speech ! thought's criterion 
too : 469 

Thought in the mine may come forth gold or dross ; 
When coin'd in word, we know its real worth : 
If bterling, store it for thy future use ; 
'Twill buy thee benefit, perhaps renown. 
Thought, too, deliver'd, is the more possess'd ; 

and giving we retain 475 



ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 31 

Tiie births of intellect ; when dumb, forgot. 

Speech ventilates our intellectual fire ; 

Speech burnishes our mental magazine ; 

Brightens for ornament, and whets for use. 

What numbers, sheath'd in erudition, lie 480 

Plunged to the hilts in venerable tomes, 

And rusted in, who might have borne an edge, 

And play'd a sprightly beam, if born to speech, 

If born bless'd heirs of half their mother's tongue ! 484 

'Tis thought's exhcangs, which, like the' alternate push 

Of waves conflicting, breaks the learned scum, 

And defecates the student's standing pool. 

In contemplation is his proud resource ? 
'Tis poor as proud, by converse unsustain'd. 
Rude thought runs wild in Contemplation's field } 490 
Converse, the menage, breaks it to the bit 
Of due restraint ; and Emulation's spur 
Gives graceful energy, by rivals awed. 
'Tis converse qualifies for solitude, 
As exercise for salutary rest : 495 

By that untutor'd, Contemplation raves ; 
And Natvire's fool by Wisdom's is outdone 

Wisdom, though richer than Peruvian mines, 
And sweeter than the sweet ambrosial hive, 
What is slie but the means of happiness ? uOO 

That unobtain'd, than Folly more a fool ; 
A melancholy fool, without her bells. 
Friendship, the means of wisdom, richly gives 
The precious end, v^rhich makes our wisdom wise. 
Nature, in zeal for human amity, 505 

Denies or damps an undivided joy. 
Joy is an import : joy is an exchange ; 
Joy flies monopolists ; it calls for two : 
Rich fruit ! Heaven-planted ! never pluck'd by one. 
Needful auxiliars are our friends, to give 510 

To social man true relish of himself. 
Full on ourselves descending in a line, 
Pleasure's bright beam is feeble in delight : 



152 THE COMPLAINT. s. ii 

Delight intense is taken by rebound ; 

Keverberated pleasures fire the breast. 515 

Celestial Happiness ! whene'er she stoops 
To visit Earth, one slirine the goddess finds, 
And one alone, to make her sweet amends 
• For absent Heaven — the bosom of a friend ; 
"Where heart meets heart, reciprocally soft, 520 

Each other's pillow to repose divine 
Beware the counterfeit ; in passion's flame 
Hearts melt, but melt like ice, soon harder froze. 
True love strikes root in reason, passion's foe : 
Virtue aJone entenders us for life ; 525 

I wrong her much — entenders us for ever. 
Of Friendship's fairest fruits, the fruit most fair 
Is Virtue kindling at a rival fire. 
And emulously rapid in her race. 

O the soft enmity ! endearing strife ! 530 

This carries Friendship to her noontide point, 
And gives the rivet of eternity. 

From Friendship, whirfih outlives my former themes, 
<rlorious survivor of oTd Time and Death ! 
From Friendship, thus, that flower of heavenly seed, 
Tlie wise extract earth's most hyblean bliss, 536 

. Superior wisdom, crown'd with smiling joy. 

But for v/hom blossoms this Elj'^sian flower i 
Abroad they find who cherish it at liome. 
3-orenzo I pardon what my love extorts, 540 

An honest love, and not afraid to frown. 
■ Though choice of follies fasten on the great, 
None clings more obstinate than fancy fond, 
That sacred friendship is their easy prey 
Caught by the wafture of a golden lure, 545 

Or fascination of a highborn smile. 
Their smiles the great, and the coquette, throw out 
For others' hearts, tenacious of their own ; 
And we no less of ours, when such the bait. 
Ye Fortune's coflferers ! ye powers of Wealth ! 5o0 
Can gold gain friendship? impudence of hope . 



ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 35 
As well mere man an angel might beget. 
Love, and love only, is the loan for love. 
Lorenzo ! pride repress, nor hope to find 
A friend, but what has found a friend in thee : 555 
All like the purchase, few the price will pay ; 
And this makes friends such miracles below. 
What if (since daring on so nice a theme) 
I show thee friendship delicate as dear, 
Of tender violations apt to die ? 560 

Reserve will wound it, and distrust destroy. 
Deliberate on all things with thy friend : 
But since friends grow not thick on every bough 
Nor every friend unrotten at the core, 
First on thy friend deliberate with thyself ; 565 

Pause, ponder,, sift ; not eager in the choice, 
Nor jealous of the chosen : fixing, fix ; 
Judge before friendship, then confide till death. 
Well for thy friend, but nobler far for thee. 
How gallant danger for earth's highest prize ! 570 

A friend is worth all hazards we can run. 
* PoQr is the friendless master of a world ; 
A world in purchase for a friend is gain.' 

So sung he (angels hear that angel smg . 
Angeb from friendship gather half their joy) 575 

So sung Philander, as his friend went round 
In the rich ichor, in the generous blood 
Of Bacchus, purple god of joyous wit, 
A brow solute, and ever laughing eye. 
He drank long health and virtue to his triend ; 580 
His friend ! who warm'd him more, who more inspired. 
Friendship's the wine of life ; but friendship new 
(Not such was his) is neither strong nor pure. 
O ! for the bright complexion, cordial warmth, 
And elevating spirit of a friend, 585 

For twenty summers ripening by my side ; 
All feculence of falsehood long thrown down, 
All social virtues rising in his soul, 
As crystal clear, and smiling as they rise ! 



34 THE COMPLAINT. n. ii. 

Here nectar flows ; it sparkles in our sight : 590 

Rich to the taste, and genuine from the heart. 
High-flavour 'd bliss for gods ! on earth how rare '. 
On earth how lost ! — Philander is no more. 

Think'st thou the theme intoxicates my song ? 
Am I too warm ? — Too warm I cannot be. 595 _ 

I loved him much, but now I love him more. m 

Like birds, whose beauties languish, half conceal'd, *1 

Till, mounted on the wing, their glossy plumes 
Expanded, shine with azure, green, and gold ; 
How blessings brighten as they take their flight ! GOO 
His flight Philander took, his upward flight, 
If ever soul ascended. Had he dropp'd, 
(That eagle genius !) O had he let fall 
One feather as he flow, I then had wrote 
What friends might flatter, prudent foes forbear, C05 
Rivals scarce damn, and Zoilus reprieve. 
Yet what I can I must : it were profane 
To quench a glory lighted at the skies. 
And cast in shadows his illustrious clom. 
Strange ! the theme most affecting, most sublime, 610 
Momentous most to man, should deep unsung ! 
And yet it sleeps, by genius unawaked, 
Painim or Christian, to the blush of Wit. 
Man's highest triumph, man's profoundest fall, 
The deathbed of the just ! is yet undrawn G15 

By mortal hand ; it merits a divine : 
Angels should paint it, angels ever there, 
Tliere on a post of honour and of joy. 

Dare I presume, then ? but Philander bide, 
And glory tempts, and inclination calls. 620 

Yet am I struck, as struck the soul beneath 
Aerial groves' impenetrable gloom, 
Or in some mighty ruin's solemn shade, 
Or gazing, by pale lamps, on highborn dust 
In vaults, thin courts of poor unflatter'd kings, 625 
Or at the midnight altar's hallow'd flame. 
Jt iiS religion to proceed : I paus.e — 



ON TIME, DEATH, AND FRIENDSHIP. 35 

And enter, awed, the temple of my theme. 
Is it his deathbed ? No ; it is his shrine : 
Behold him there just rising to a god. 630 

The chamber where the good man meets his fate 

Is privileged beyond the common walk 

Of virtuous life, quite in the verge of Heaven. 

Fly, ye profane ! if not, draw near with awe, 

Receive the blessing, and adore the chance 635 

That threw in this Bethesda your disease : 

If unrestored by this, despair your cure ; 

For here resistless Demonstration dwells^ 

A deathbed 's a detector of the heart ! 

Here tired Dissimulation drops her mask, 640 

Through Life's grimace that mistress of the scene ! 

Here real and apparent are the same. 

You see the man, you sec his hold on Heaven, 

If .sound his virtue, as Philander's sound. 

Heaven waits not the last moment ; owns her friends 

On this side death, and points them out to men ; 046 

A lecture silent, but of sovereign power ! 

To Vice confusion, and to Virtue peace. 
Whatever farce the boastful h'Sro plays, 

Virtue alone has majesty in death ; 650 

And greater still, the more the tyrant frowns. 
Philander ! he severely frown'd on thee. 
' No warning given ! unceremonious fate ! 
A sudden rush from life's meridian joys ! 
A wrench from all we love ! from all we are ! 655 

A restless bed of pain ! a plunge opaque 
Beyond conjecture ! feeble Nature's dread ! 
Strong Reason's shudder at the dark unknov/n ! 
A sun extinguish'd ! a just opening grave ! 659 

And, oh ! the last, the last ; what .'' (can words express, 
Thought reach it ?) the last — silence of a friend !' 
Where are those horrors, that amazement, where 
This hideous group of ills which singly shock ? 
Demand from man — I thought him man, till now. 664 
ThroughNature's wreck, through vanquish'd agonies^ 



36 THE COMPLAINT. n. ir. 

(Like the stars struggling through this midnight gloom) 

What gleams of joy ! what more than human peace ! 

Where the frail mortal, the poor abject worm ? 

No, not in death the mortal to be found. 

His conduct is a legacy for all, 670 

Kicher than Mammon's for his single heir. 

His comforters he comforts ; great in ruin, 

With unreluctant grandeur gives, not yields 

His soul sublime, and closes ^yith his fate. 

How our hearts burn'd within us at the scene ! 675 
Whence this brave bound o'er limits fix'd to man ? 
His God sustains him in his final hour ! 
His final hour brings glory to his God ! 
Man's glory Heaven vouchsafes to call her own. 
We gaze, we weep ; mix'd tears of grief and joy ! 680 
Amazement strikes : devotion bursts to flame : 
Christians adore ! and infidels beheve ! 

As some tall tower, or lofty mountain's brow, 
Detains the Sun, illustrious, from its height. 
While rising vapours and descending shades, 685 

With damps and darkness, drown the spacious vale * 
Undamp'd by doubt, undarken'd by despair, 
Philander thus augustly rears his head, 
At that black hour which general horror sheds 
On the low level of Oie' inglorious throng : 600 

Sweet peace, and heavenly hope, and humble joy 
Divinely beam on his exalted soul ; 
Destruction gild and crown him for the skies, 
With incommunicable lustre bright. 



mC^RT III. 



'Navtium* 

TO HER GRACE THE DUCHESS OF PORTLAND. 



Ig-noscenda quidem, scirent si ignoscere maiies, 

ViRG. 



Fro:i dreams, where thought in Fancy's maze runs mad, 
To Reason, that heaven-lighted lamp in man, 
Once more I wake ; and at the destined hourj 
Punctual as lovers to the moment sworn, 
I keep my assignation with my woe. - 5 

O ! lost to virtue, lost to manly thought. 
Lost to the noble sallies of the soul ; 
Who think it solitude to be alone. 
Communion sweet ! communion large and high ! 
Our reason, guardian-angel, and our God I 10 

Then nearest these, when others most remote ; 
And all, ere long, shall be remote but these : 
Hov/ dreadful, th.en, to meet them all alone, 
A stranger ! unacknowledged ! unapproved I 
Now woo them, wed them, bind them to thy breast ; 15 
To win thy wish creation has no more : 

Or if we wish a fourtli, it is a friend. 

But friends hov.'- mortal ! dangerous the desire. 

Take Phcjcbus to youriielves, yv basking bards ! 
Inebriate at fiir Fortune's fov,ntain head, 20 

And reeling through the wilderness of joy, 
4 



28 THE COMPLAINT. n. ni. 

Where Sense runs savage, broke from Reason's chain, 
And sings false peace, till sraother'd by the pall. 
My fortune is unlike, unlike my song, 
Unlike the Deity my song ii\vokes. 25 

I to day's soft-eyed sister pay my court • 
(Endyraions rival,) and her aid implore, 
Now first implored in succour to the Muse. 

Thou who didst lately borrow Cynthia's* form, 
And modestly forego thine own : O thou 30 

Who didst thyself, at midnight hours, inspire ! 
Say, why not Cynthia, patroness of song ? 
As thou her crescent, she thy character 
Assumes ; still more a goddess by the change. 

Are there demurring v;its who dare dispute 35 

This revolution in the world inspired ? 
Ye train Pierian ! to the lunar sphere, 
In silent hour, address your ardent call 
For aid immortal, less her brother's right. 
She with the spheres harmonious nightly leads 40 
The mazy dance, and hears their matchless strain, 
A strain for gods, denied to mortal ear. 
Transmit it heard, thou silver queen of Heaven ! 
What title or what name endears thee most .'' 
Cynthia ! Cyllene ! Phcebe — or dost hear 45 

VVith higher gust, fair Portland of the skies .' 
Is that the soft enchantment calls thee down. 
More powerful than of old Circean charm? 
Come, but from heavenly banquets with thee bring 
The soul of song, and whisper in mine ear 50 

The theft divine ; or in propitious dj earns 
(For dreams are thine) tranfuse it through the breast 
Of thy first votary — but not thy last, 
If, like thy namesake, thou art ever kind. 

And kind thou v/ilt be, kind on such a theme ; 55 
A theme so like thee, a quite lunar theme. 
Soft, modest, m.elancholy, female, fair ! 
A theme that rose all pale, and told my soul 
* At the Duke »f Norfolk's raa^quera'de;*'' 



NARCISSA. ?9 

'Twas night ; on her fond hopes perpetual night ; 
A night which struck a damp, a deadlier damp GO 

Than that which smote me from Philander's tomb ! 
Narcissa follows ere his tomb is closed. 
Woes cluster ; rare are solitary woes ; 
They love a train ; they tread each other's heel ; 
Her death invades his mournful right, and claims 65 
The grief that started from my lids for him ; 
Seizes the faithless, alienated tear, 
Or shares it ere it falls. So frequent Death, 
Sorrow he more than causes, he confounds ; 
For human sighs his rival strokes contend, 70 

And make distress distraction. Oh, Philander I 
What was thy fate ? a double fate to me ! 
Portent and plain ! a menace and a blow ! 
Like the black raven hovering o'er my peace, 
Not less a bird of omen than of prey. 75 

It call'd Narcissa long before her hour ; 
It call'd her tender soul by break of bliss, 
From the first blossom, from the buds of joy ; 
Those few our noxious fate \inblasted leaves, 
In this inclement clime of human life. 80 

Sweet harmonist ! and beautiful as sweet ! 
And young as beautiful ! and soft as young ! 
And gay as soft ! and innocent as gay ! 
And happy (if aught happy here) as good } 
For Fortune fond had built her nest on high. 85 

liike birds quite exquisite of note and plume, 
Transfix'd by Fate (who loves a lofty mark) 
How from the summit of the grove she fell. 
And left it unharmonious ! all its charm 
Extinguished in the wonders of her song ! 90 

Her song still vibrates in my ravish'd ear, 
Still melting there, and with voluptuous pain 
(O to forget her I) thrilling through my heart. 

Song, beauty, youth, love, virtue, joy ! this group 
Of bright ideas, flowers of Paradise, 95 

As yet unforfeit ! in one blaze we bind, 



40 THE COMPLAINT. k. nr. 

Kncclj and present it to the skies, as all 

We guess of Heaven ! and these were all her own ; 

And she was mine ; and I was — was ! — most bless'd— 

Gay title of the deepest misery ! 100 

As bodies grow more ponderous robb'd of life, 

Good lost weighs more in grief than gain'd in jo3^ 

Like blossom'd trees o'erturn'd by vernal storm, 

Lovely in death tho beauteous ruin lay ; 

And if in death still lovely, lovelier there ) 105 

Fir lovelier ! pity sv/ells the tide of love. 

And will not the severe excuse a sigh .'' 

Sewn the proud man that is ashamed to weep. 

Our tears indulged indeed deserve our shame. 

Ye that e'er lost an angel, pity mc ! 110 

Soon as the lustre languish'd in her eye, 
Dawning a dimmer day on human sight, 
And on her cheek, the residence of Spring, 
Pale Omen sat, and scattered fears around 
On all that saw, (and who would cease to gaze 115 
That once had seep ?) with haste, parental haste, 
I flew, I snatch'd her from the rigid North, 
Her native bed, on which bleak Boreas blew, 
And bore her nearer to the Sun ; the Sun 
(As if the Sun could envy) check'd his beam, 120 

Denied his wonted succour ; nor wnth more 
Regret beheld her drooping than the bells 
Of lilies ; fairest lilies, not so fair I 

Queen lilies ! and 3^e painted populace 
"Who dwell in fields, and lead ambrosial lives ! 125 

In morn and e\"ening dew your beauties bathe, 
And drink the sun, whicli gives your cheeks to glow, 
And outblush (mine excepted) every fair ; 
You gladlier gi*ew, ambitious of her hand, 
Wiiich often cropp'd your odours, incense meet 130^ 
To thought so pure ! Ye lovely fugitives ! 
Coeval race with man ! for man you smile : 
Why not. smile at him too ? You share, indeed. 
His sudden pass : but not his constant pain. 



NAIICISSA. 41 

So man is made, noug-ht ministers delight; 13G 

But what his glowing passions can engage j 
And glowing passions, bent on aught below. 
Must, soon or late, with anguish turn the scale ; 
And anguish after rapture, how severe ! 
Rapture .'' bold man ! who tempts the wrath divine, 140 
By plucking fruit denied to mortal taste, 
While here presuming on tlie rights of Heaven. 
For transport dost thou call on every hour, 
Jjorenzo ? At thy friend's expense be wise : 
Lean not on earth ; \\vi\\ pierce thee to the heart ; 
A broken reed at best ; but oft a spear.: 346 

On its sharp point Peace bleeds, and Hope expires. . 

Turn, hopeless thought ! turn from her. — Thought 
Resenting rallies, and wakes every v/oe. [repell'd 

Snatch 'd ere thy prime ! and in thy bridal hour ! 150 
And when kind Fortune, with thy lover, smiled ! 
And when high-flavour'd thy fresh opening joys ! 
And when blind man pronounced thy bliss complete ! 
And on a foreign shore, where strangers wept ! 
Strangers to thee, and, more surprising still, 155 

Strangers to kindness w^ept. Their eyes let fall 
Iixliuman tears j strange tears ! that trickled down 
From marble hearts ! obdurate tenderness ! 
A tenderness that call'd them more severe. 
In spite of Nature's soft persuasion steel'd : IGO 

While Nature melted, Superstition raved ; 
That mourn'd the dead, and this denied a grave. 

Their sighs incensed ; sighs foreign to the will ! 
Their will the tiger sucked, outraged the storm ; 
For, oh ! the cursed ungodliness of Zeal ! 165 

While sinful flesh relented, spirit nursed 
In blind Infallibility's embrace, 
The sainted spirit petrified the breast • 
Denied the charity of dust to spread 
O'er dust ! a charity their dogs enjoy. 170 

What could I do ? what succour ? what resource ?, 
With fiious sacrilege a grave I stole ; 
4* 



42 THE COMPLATN-l'. n. u?. 

"With impious pipty that grave I wrongtl } 

Short in aiy duty, coward in my grief! 

More like her murderer tlian friend, I crept 175 

"With soft-suspended step, and, muffled deep 

In midnight darkness, whisper'd my last sigh. 

I whisper "d what sliould echo through their roahns, 

Nor writ her name, whoso tomb should pierce the skies. 

Presumptuous fear 1 how durst I dread her foes, 180 

"Wliile Nature's loudest dictates I obey'd ? 

Pardon necessity, bless'd shade ! of grief 

And indignation rival bursts I pour'd ; 

Half execration mingled with my prayer ; 

Kindled at man, while I his God adored ; 185 

Sore grudged the savage land her sacred dust ; 

Stampd the cursed soil ; and with humanity 

(Denied Narcissa) wish'd them all a grave. 

Glows my resentment into guilt .'' what guilt 
Can equal violations of the dead ? 190 

The dead how sacred I sacred is the dust 
Of this heavcn-labour'd form, erect, divine ! 
This heaven-assumed, majestic robe of earth 
He deign'd to wear, who hung the vast expanse 
With azure bright, and clothed the Sun in gold. 105 
"When every pasoion sleeps that can offend ; 
When strikes us every motive that can melt ; 
"When man can wreak his rancour uncontrolld, 
That strongest curb on insult and ill will ; 
Then ! spleen to dust ? the dust of innocence .' 200 
An angel's dust ! — This Lucifer transcends ; 
"When he contended for the patriarch's bones. 
'Twas not the strife of malice, but of pride ; 
The strife of pontifl' pride, not pontiff gall. 

Far less than this is shocking in a race 205 

Most wretched, but from streams of mutual love ; 
And uncreated, but for love divine ; 
And but for love divine this moment lost, 
By Fate resorb'd, and sunk in endless night. 
Man hard of heart to rnan ! oi' horrid things 21 ^ 



NARCISSA. 43 

Most horrid ! mid stupendous highly strange ! 

Yet oft his courtesies are smoother wrongs ; 

Pride brandishes the favours he confers, 

And contumeUous his humanity : 

What then his vengeance ? Hear it not, ye Stars ! 215 

And thou, pale JMoon ! turn paler at the sound, 

Man is to man the sorest, surest ilH'"- 

A previous blast foretels the rising storm ; 

O'erwhelming turrets threaten, ere they fall ; 

Volcanos bellow, ere they disembogue ; 220 

Earth trembles, ere her yawning jaws devour ; 

And smoke betrays the wide consuming fire : 

Ruin from man is most conceal'd when near, 

And sends the dreadful tidings in the blow. 

Is this the flight of Fancy ? would it were ! 225 

Heaven's Sovereign saves all beings, but himself, 

Tliat hideous sight, a naked human heart. 

Fired is the Muse ? and let the Muse be fired: 
Who not i\iflamed, when what he speaks he feels, 
And in the nerve most tender, in his friends ; 230 

Shame to mankind ! Philander had his foes ; 
He felt the truths I sing, and I in him ; 
But he nor I feel more. Past ills, Narcissa ! 
Are sunk in thee, thou recent v/cnd of heart, 
Which bleeds with other cares, with other pangs, 235 
Pangs numeroxis as the numerous ills that swarm'd 
O'er thy distinguish'd fate, and, clustering there. 
Thick as the locust on the land of Nile, 
Made death more deadly, and more dark the grave. 
Reflect (if not forgot my' touc]x»^ig tale) ^^ 246 

How was each circumstance with aspics arm'd I 
An aspic each, and all an hydra woe. 
What strong Herculean virtue could suffice ? — 
Or is it virtue to be conquer'd here .'' 
This hoary cheek a train of tears bedews, 245 

And each tear mourns its own distinct distress, 
And each distress, distinctly mourn'd, demands 
Of grief still more as heighten'd by the whole. 



44 THE COMPLAINT. 5. ijr 

A grief like this proprietors excludes : 

Not friends alone such obsequies deplore ; 250 

They make mankind the mourner ; carry sighs 

Far as the fatal Fame can wing her way, 

And turn the gayest thought of gayest age 

Down their right channel, through the vale of death. 

The vale of death ! that Imsh'd Cimmerian vale, 
Where Darkness, brooding o'er unfinish'd fates, 256 
With raven wing incumbent, waits the day 
(Dread day !) that interdicts all future change; 
That subterranean world, that land of ruin ! 
Fit walk, Lorenzo ! for proud human thought ! 200 
There let my thoughts expatiate, and explore 
Balsamic truths and healing sentiments, 
Of all most wanted, and most Vv-elcome, here. 
For gay Lorenzo's sake, and for thy own. 
My soul ! ' The fruits of dying friends survey ; 2G5 
Expose the vain of life ; weigh life and death : 
Give Death his eulogy ; th}^ fear subdued ; 
And labour that first palm of noble minds, 
A manly scorn of terror from the tomb.' 

This harvest reap from thy Karcissa's grave. 270 
As poets feign"d from Ajax' streaming blood 
Arose, with grief inscribed, a mournful flower, 
Let wisdom blossom from my moital v/ound. 
And first, of dying friends ; what fruit from these ? 
It brings us more than triple aid ; an aid 275 

To chase our thoughtlessness, fear, pride, and guilt. 

Our dying friends come o'er us like a cloud, 
To dan^ our brainless ardours, and abate 
That glare of life which often blinds the wise. 
Our dying friends are pioneers, to smooth .280 

Our rugged pass to death ; to break those bars 
Of terror and abhorrence Nature throws 
Cross our obstructed way, and thus to make 
Welcome, as safe, our port from every storm. 
Each friend by Fate snatch'd from us is a plume, 28» 
Pluck'd from the wing of human vanity, 



NARCiSSA. 45 

V.'iiidh makes us stoop from our aerial heights, 
And damp'd with omen of our own decease, 
On drooping pinions of ambition lower'd, 
Just skim earth's surface ere we break it up, 290 

O'er putrid earth to scratch a little dust, 
And save the world a nuisance. Smitten friends 
Are angels sent on errands full of love ; 
For us they languish, and for us they die : 
And shall they languish, shall they die, in vain ? 295 
Ungrateful, shall we grieve their hovering shades, 
Which wait the revolution in our hearts r 
Shall we disdain their silent, soft, address, 
Their posthumous advice, and pious prayer ? 
Senseless as herds that graze their hallow'd graves, 
Tread under foot their agonies and groans, 301 

Frustrate their anguish, and destroy thoir deaths ? 

Lorenzo ! no ; the thought of death indulge ; 
Give it its wholesome empire ! let it reign, 
That kind chastiser of thy soul, in joy ! 305 

Its reign will spread thy glorious conquests far, 
And f till the tumults of thy ruffled breast. 
Auspicious era ! golden days, begin'! * 

The thought of death shall, like a god, inspire. 
And why not think on death .? Is life the theme 310^ 
Of every thought ? and wish of every hour ? 
And song of every joy ? surprising truth ! 
The beaten spaniel's fondness not so strange. 
To wave the numerous ills thai seize on life 
As their own property, their lav/ful prey ; 315 

Ere man has measured half his weary stage, 
Ilis luxuries have left him no reserve, 
No maiden relishes, unbroach'd delights : 
On cold-served repetitions he subsists. 
And in the tasteless present chews the past ; 320 

Disgusted chews, and scarce can sv/allow down. 
Like lavish ancestors, his earlier years 
Have disinherited his future hours, 
Wliicl'. ptrrrvG on nrt'i, and cjlean their former field. 



46 THE COxMPLAINT. n. iiu 

Live ever here, Lorenzo ! — shocking thought ! 325 
So shocking ! they who wish, disown it too ; 
Disown from shame, what they from folly crave. 
Live ever in the womb, nor see the light ? 
For what, live ever here ? — with labouring step 
To tread our former footsteps ? pace the round 330 
Eternal? to climb life's worn heavy wheel. 
Which draws up nothing new ? to beat, and beat 
The beaten track ? to bid each wretched day 
The former mock ? to surfeit on the same, 
And yawn our joys ? or thank a misery 335 

For change though sad ! to see what we have seen ? 
Hear, till unheard, the same old slabber'd tale ? 
To taste the tasted, and at each return 
Less tasteful ? o'er our palates to descant 
Another vintage ? strain a flatter year 340 

Through loaded vessels, and a laxer tone ? 
Crazy machines to grind Earths wasted fruits ! 
Ill ground, and worse concocted ! load, not life 1 
The rational foul kennels of excess ! 
Still-streaming thoroughfares of dull debauch ! .345 
Trembling each gulp, lest Death should snatch the bowl. 

Such of our fine ones is the wish refined ! 
So would they have it : elegant desire ! 
Why not invito the bellowing stalls and wilds ? 
But such examples might their riot awe. 350 

Through want of virtue, that is, want of thought, 
(Though on bright Thought they father all their flights) 
To what are the}'^ reduced ? to love and hate 
The same vain world ; to censui'e and espouse 
This painted shrew of life, who calls them fool 355 
Each moment of each day ; to flatter bad, 
Through dread of worse ; to cling to this rude rock, 
'Barren to them of good, and sharp with ills, 
And hourly blacken'd with impending storms, 
And infamous for wrecks of human hope — 360 

Scared at the gloomy gulf that, yawns beneath. 
Such are their triumphs ! such their pangs of joy ! 



NARCrSSA. 47 

'Tis time, high time, to shift this dismal scene^ 
This hugg'd, this hideous state, wliat art can cure ? 
One only, but that one what all may reach : 365 

Virtue — she, v/onder-working goddess ! charms 
That rock to bl-oom, and tames, the painted shrew ; 
And what will more surprise, Lorenzo ! gives 
To life's sick, nauseous iteration, change ; 
And straightens Nature's circle to a line. 370 

Believest thou this, Lorenzo ? lend an ear, 
A patient ear ; thou'lt blush to disbelieve. 

A languid, leaden iteration reigns, 
And ever must, o'er those whose joys are joys 
Of sigjit, smell, taste. The cuckoo-seasons sing 375 
The same dull note to such as nothing prize 
But what those seasons, from the teeming earth, 
To doting sense indulge : but nobler minds, 
Which relish fruits unripen'd by the Sun, 
Slake their days various ; various as the dyes 380 

On the dove's neck, which wanton in his rays. 
On minds of dovelike innocence possess'd, 
On lighten'd minds that bask in Virtue's beams, 
Nothing hangs tedious, nothing old revolves 
In that for which they long, for which they live, 385 
Their glorious efforts, wing'd with heavenly hope. 
Each rising morning sees still higher rise ; 
Eauh bounteous dawn its novelty presents 
To worth maturing, new strength, lustre, fame ; 
While Nature's circle, like a chariot- wheel 390 

Rolling beneath their elevated aims. 
Makes their fair prospect fairer every hour, 
Advancing virtue in a line to bliss ; 
Virtue, which Christian motives best inspire ; 394 
And bliss, which Christian schemes alone ensure ! 
And shall we then, for Virtue's sake, commence 
Apostate, and turn infidels for joy .'' 
A truth it is few doubt, but fewer trust, 
' He sins against this life, who slights the next.' 
W ftat is tffis Rfe : how few theij: favourite Rnow ! 400 



43 THE COMPLAINT. n. m. 

Fond m the dark, and blind in our embrace. 

By passionately loving Life, we make 

Loved Lite unlovely, hugging her to death. 

We give to time eternity's regard, 

And dreaming, take our pa&sage for our port. 405 

Life has no value as an end, but means ; 

An end deplorable ! a means divine ! 

When 'tis our all, 'tis nothing* : worse than nought ; 

A nest of pains: when held as nothing, much. 

Like some fair humorists, life is most enjoy 'd 410 

When courted least ; most worth when disesteem'd ; 

Then 'tis the seat of comfort rich in peace ; 

In prospect richer far ; important ! awful ! 

Not to be mentioned but with shouts of praise ! 

Not to be thought on but with tides of joy ! 415 

The mighty basis of eternal bliss ! 

Where now the barren rock ? the painted shrew ? 
Where now, Lorenzo, life's eternal round .' 
Have I not made my triple promise good .'' 
Vain is the world, but only to the vain. 420 

To what compare we then this varying scene, 
Whose worth, ambiguous, rises and declines, 
Waxes and wi^nes .'' (in all propitious Night 
Assists me here) compare it to the moop ; 
Dark in herself, and indigent, but rich 425 

In bcrrow'd lustre from a higher sphere. 
When gross guilt interposes, labouring Earth, 
O'ershadow'd, mourns a deep eclipse of joy ; 
Her joys at brightest, pallid to that font 
Of full effulgent glory whence they flow. 430 

Nor is that glory distant. Oh, Lorenzo! 
A good man and an angel ! these between 
How thin the barrier ! what divides their fate ? 
Perhaps a moment, or perliaps a year ; -s 
Or if an age, it is a moment still ; ' 435 

A moment, or Eternity's forgot. 
Then be what once they w€re who now are gods"; 
iisj what Philander was, and claim the skies. 



NARUISSA. 43 

Starts timid Nature at the gloomy pass ? 
The soft transition call it, and be cheer'd : 440 

Such it is often, and why not to thee ?• 
To hope the best is pious, brave, and wise, 
And may itself procure what it presumes. 
Life is much flatter'd, Death is much traduced ; 
Compare the rivals and the kinder crown. 445 

* Strange competition !' — True, Lorenzo ! strange ! 
So little life can cast into the scale. 

Life makes the soul dependent on the dust, 
Death gives her wings to mount above the spheres. 
Through chinks, styled organs, dim life, peeps at light ; 
Death bursts the involving cloud, and all is day : 451 
All eye, all ear, the disembodied power. 
Deatli has feign'd evils Nature shall not feel ; 
Life, ills substantial wisdom cannot shun. 
Is not the mighty mind, that sun of Heaven ! 455 

By tyrant Life dethroned, imprison'd, pain'd ?' 
By Death enlarged, ennobled, deified .' 
Death but entombs the body, Life the soul. 

' Is Death then guiltless ? How he marks his way 
With dreadful waste of what deserves to shine ! 4G0 
Art, Genius, Fortune, elevated power ! 
With various lustres these light up the world, 
Which Death puts out, and darkens human race.' 
I grant, Lorenzo I this indictment just : 
The sage, peer, potentate, king, conqueror ! 465 

Death humbles these ; ,more barbarous Life, the man 
Life is the triumph of our mouldering clay ; 
Death of the spirit infinite ! divine ! 
Death has no dread but what frail Life imparts, 
Nor Life true joy but what kind Death improves. 470 
No bliss has Life to boast, till Death can give 
Far greater. Life's a debtor to the grave ; 
Dark lattice ! letting in eternal day. 

Lorenzo ! blush at fondness for a life 
Which sends celestial souls on errands vile, 475 

To cater for the sense, and serve at boards 



50 THE Complaint. n. m. 

Where e.very ratiger of the wilds, perhaps 
♦Each reptile, justly claims our upper hand. 
Luxurious feast ! a soul, a soul immortal, 
In all the dainties of a brute bemired ! 480 

Lorenzo ! blush at terror for a death 
Which gives thee to repose in festive bowera. 
Where nectars sparkle, angels minister, 
And more than angels share, and raise, and crown, 
And eternize, the birth, bloom, bursts of bliss. 485 
What need I more ? — O Death ! the palm is thine. 

Then welcome. Death ! thy dreaded harbingers, 
Age and disease ; Disease, though long my guest, 
That plucks my nerves, those tender strings of life : 
Which pluck'd a little more, will toll the bell 490 

That calls my few friends to iny funeral ; 
Where feeble nature drops, perhaps, a tear, ^ 

While Reason and Religion, better taught, 
Congratulate the dead, and crown his tomb 
With wreath triumphant. Death is victory ! 495 

It binds in chains the raging ills of life : 
Lust and Ambition, Wrath and Avarice, 
Dragg'd at his chariot-wheel, applaud his powej. 
Tliat ills corrosive, cares importunate, 
Are not immortal too, O Death ! is thine. 500 

Our day of dissolution ? — name it right, 
'Tis our great pay-day ; 'tis our harvest rich 
And ripe. What though the sickle, sometimes keen, 
Just scars us as we reap the golden grain ? 
More than tliy balm, O Gilead ! heals tlie wound. 505 
Birth's feeble cry, and Death's deep dism.al groan, 
Are slender tributes 2ow-tax'd Nature pays * 
For mighty gain : the gain of each a life ! 
But, O ! the last the former so transcends, 509 

Life dies, compared , Life lives beyond the grave. 

And feel I, Death ! no joy from thought of thee ? 
Death ! the great counsellor, who man inspires 
.With every nobler thought and fairer deed ! 
Death ! the deliverer, who rescues man 1 



NARCISSA. 51 

Death ' the re warder, who the rescued crowns ! 515 
Death ! that absolves my birth, a curse without it ! 
Rich Death ! that realizes all my cares, 
Toils, virtues, hopes ; without it a chimera ; / 
Death ! of all pain the period, not of joy ; 
Joy's source and subject still subsist unhurt ; 52Q 

One in my soul, and one in her great sire, 
Though the four winds were warring for my dust. 
Yes, and from winds and waves, and central night, 
Though prison'd there, my dust, too, I reclaim, 
(To dust when drop proud Nature's proudest spheres) 
And live entire. Death is the crown of life ! 526 

Were death denied, poor man would live in vain : 
Were death denied, to live would not be life : 
Were death denied, e'en fools would wish to die. 
Death wounds to cure ; we fall, we rise, we reign ! 530 
Spring from our fetters, fasten in the skies, 
Where blooming Eden withers in our sight. 
Death gives us more than was in Eden lost : 
This king of terrors is the prince of peace. 
When shall I die to vanity, pain, death .'' 535 

When shall I die .- — when shall I live for ever ? 



NIGHT IV. 

CONTAINING 

OUR ONLY CURE FOR THE FEAR OF DEATH, AND PROPER 
SENTIMENTS OF HEART ON THAT INESTIMABLE 
BLESSING. ' 

TO THE HON. MR. YORKE. 

A MUCH indebted Muse, O Yorke ! intrudes. 
Amid the smiles of fortune and of youth, 
Thine ear is patient of a serious song. 

How deep implanted in the breast of man 
The dread of death ! I sing its sovereign cure. 5 

Why start at Death ? where is he ? Death arrived, 
Is past ; not come, or gone ;- he's never here. 
Ere hope, sensation fails. Black-boding man. 
Receives, not suffers. Death's tremendous blow. 
The knell, the shroud, the mattock, and the grave ; 10 
The deep damp vault, the darkness, and the worm j 
These arc the bugbears of a winter's eve. 
The terrors of the living, not the dead. 
Imagination's fool, and Error's wretch, 
Man makes a death which Nature never made : J 5 
Then on the point of his own fancy falls, 
And feels a thousand deaths in fearing one. 

But were Death frightful, what has age to fear .'' 
If prudent, age should meet the friendly^ foe, 
And shelter in his hospitable gloom. 20 

1 scarce can meet a momunent, but holds 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. 53 

My younger ; every date cries — ' Come away.' 
And what recals me ? look the world around, 
And tell me what : the wisest cannot tell. 
Should any born of woman give his thought 25 

Full range, on just Dislike's unbounded field; 
Of things the vanity, of men the flav/s : 
Ilaws in the best ; the many, flaw all o'er ; 
As leopards spotted, or as Ethiops dark ; 
Vivacious ill ; good dying immature ; 30 

(How immature, Narcissa's marble tells !) 
And at his death bequeathing endless pain ; 
His heart, though bold, would sicken at the sight, 
And spend itself in sighs for future scenes. 

But grant to life (a'nd just it is to grant 35 

To lucky life) some perquisites of joy ; 
A time there is when, like a thrice-told tale, 
Long-riHed life of sweet can yield no more, 
But, from our comment on the comedy, 
Pleasing reflections on parts well sustain'd 40 

Or purposed emendations where we fail'd. 
Or hopes of plaudits from our candid Judge, 
When, on their exit, souls are bid unrobe. 
Toss Fortune back her tinsel and her plume, 
And drop this mask of flesh behind the scene. 45 

With me that time is come ; my world is dead ; 
A new world rises, and new manners reign : 
Foreign comedians, a spruce band ! arrive. 
To push me from the scene, or hiss me there. 
What a pert race starts up ! the strangers gaze, 50 
And I at them ; my neighbour is unknown ; 
Nor that the worst. Ah me ! the- dire effect 
Of loitering here, of death defrauded long. 
Of old so gracious (and let that suffice) 
My very master knows me not. 55 

Shall I dare say peculiar is my fate ? 
I've been so long remember'd I'm forgot. 
An object ever pressing dims the sight, 
And hides behind its ardour lo be seen. 



r 1 THE COMPLaInT . N. IV. 

When in his courtiers' ears I pour my plaint, CO 

They drink it as the nectar of the great, 
And squeeze my hand, and beg me come to-morrow. 
Refusal ! canst thou wear a smoother form ? 

Indulge me, nor conceive I drop my theme. 
Who cheapens life abates the fear of death. 65 

Twice told the period spent on stubborn Troy, 
Court-favour, yet untaken, I besiege ; 
Ambition's ill judged effort to be rich. 
Alas ! ambition makes my little less, ' 
Imbittcring the possess'd. Why wish for more ? 70 
Wishing of all employments is the worst ; 
Philosophy's reverse, and health's decay ! 
Were I as plump as stall'd Theology, 
Wishing would waste me to this shade again. 
Were I as wealthy as a South Sea dream, 75 

Wishing is an expedient to be poor. 
Wishing, that constant hectic of a fool, • 
Caught at a court, ])urg:ed off by purer air 
And simpler diet, gifts of rural life ! 

Blcss'd belliat hand divine, which gently laid 80 
]\Iy heart at rest, beneath this humble shed. 
The world's a stately bark, on dangerous seas 
With pleasure seen, but boarded at our peril : 
Here on a single piank, thrown safe ashore, 
1 hear the tumult of the distant throng, 85 

As that of seas ren-jote, or dying storms ! 
And meditate on scenes more silent still ; 
Pursue my theme, and fight tlie fear of death. 
Here, like a shepherd gazing from his hut, 
Touching his reed, or leaning on his staff, 00 

Eager Ambition's fiery chase I see ; 
I see the circling hunt of nr.isy men 
Burst law's enclosure, leap the mounds of right. 
Pursuing and pursued, each other's prey ; 
As wolves for rapine, as the fox for wiles, 95 

Till Death, that mighty hunter, earths them all. 

Why all this toil for triulnphs of an hour .'' 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. 55 

What though we wade in wealth, or soar in fame ? 
Karth's highest station ends in, '■ Here he lies ;' 
And ' dust to dust' concludes her noblest song. 100 
If this song lives, posterity shall know 
One, though in Britain born, with courtiers bred, . 
Who thought e'en gold might come a day too late ; 
Nor on his subtle deathbed plann'd his scheme 
For future vacancies in church or state, 105 

Some avocation deeming it — to die ; 
Unbit by rage canine of dying rich, 
Guilt's blunder ! and the loudest laugh of Hell. 

O my coevals ! remnants of yourselves . 
Poor human ruins tottering o'er the grave ! 3 10 

Shall we, shall aged men, like aged trees, 
Strike deeper their vile root, and closer cling. 
Still more enamour'd of this wretched soil .'' 
Shall our pale wither'd hands be still stretched out, 
Trembling, %t once, with eagerness and age .^ 115 

W^ith avarice and convulsions, grasping hard ? 
Grasping at air ! for what has earth beside 'i 
Man wants but little, nor that little long : 
How soon must he resign his very dust. 
Which frugal Nature lent him for an hour ! 120 

Years unexperienced rush on numerous ills : 
And soon as maii, expert from time, has found 
The key of life, it opes the gates of death. 

When in' this vale of years I backward look, 
And miss such numbers, numbers too, of such 125 
Firmer in healtli, and greener in their age, 
And stricter on their guard, and fitter far 
To play life's subtle game, I scarce believe 
I still survive. And am I fond of life, 
Who scarce can think it possible I live .' 130 

Alive by miracle ! or, what is next, 
Alive by Mead ! if I am still alive, 
Who long have buried what gives life to live, 
Firmness of nerve, and energy of thought. 
Life's lee is not more shallow than impure 135 



^(j THE COMPLAINT. >. iv 

And vapid : Sense and Reason show the door, 
Call for my bier, and point me to the dust. 

O thou great Arbiter of life and death ! 
Nature's immortal, immaterial Sun ! 
Whose all-prolific beam late cali'd me forth 140 

From darkness, teeming darkness, where I lay 
The worm's inferior ; and, in rank, beneath 
The dust I tread on ; high to bear my brow, 
To drink the spirit of the golden day, 
And triumph in existence ; and couldst know 145 

No motive but my bliss ; and hast ordain'd 
A rise in blessing ! with th*e patriarch's jo}--, 
Thy call I follow to the land unknown ; 
1 trust in thee, and know in whom I trust : 
Or life or death is equal ; neither weighs ; 350 

All weight in this — O let me live to Thee ! 

Though Nature's terrors thus may be reprcss'd. 
Still frowns grim Death; guilt points the tyrant's spear. 
And whence all human guilt ? — From death forgot. 
Ah me ! too long I set at nought the swarm 155 

Of friendly warnings which around me flew, 
And smiled unsmittcn. Small my cause to smile '. 
Death's admonitions, like shafts upward shot, 
JNIore dreadful by delay ; the longer ere 
They strike our hearts, the deeper is their wound : 160 
O think how deep, Lorenzo ! here it stings ; 
Who can appease its anguish .'' How it burns ! 
What hand the barb'd, envenom'd thought can draw ? 
What healing hand can pour the balm of peace, 
And turn my sight undaunted on the tomb ? 165 

With joy, — with grief, that healing hand I see ; 
Ah I too conspicuous ! it is fixed on high. 
On high ? — what means my frenzy ? I blaspheme : 
Alas ! how low ! how far beneath the skies ! 
The skies it form'd, and now it bleeds for me — 170 
But bleeds the balm I v.-ant — yet still it bleeds ; 
Draw the dire steel-^ah, no^! the dreadful blessing 
What heart or can sustain, or dares forego r 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. 57 

There hangs all human hope • that nail supports 

The falling universe : that gone, we drop ; 175 

Horror receives us, and the dismal wish 

Creation had been smother'd in her birth — 

Darkness his curtain, and his bed the dust, 

When stars and sun are dust beneath his throne j 

In Heaven itself can such indulgence dwell ? 180 

O what a groan was there ! a groan not his : 

He seized our dreadful right, the load sustain'd. 

And heaved the mountain from a guilty world. 

A thousand worlds, so bought, were bought too dear ; 

Sensations new in angels' bosoms rise, 185 

Suspend their song, and make a pause in bliss. 

O for their song to reach my lofty theme ! 
Inspire me, Night ! with all thy tuneful spheres : 
Whilst I with seraphs share seraphic themes, 
And show to men tho dignity of man ; 190 

Lest I blaspheme my subject with my song. 
Shall Pagan pages glow celestial flame, 
And Christian languish ? On our hearts, not heads, 
Falls the foul infamy. My heart ! awake : 
What can awake thee, unav/aked by this, 195 

* Expended Deity on human weal ?' 
Feel the great truths which burst the tenfold night 
Of Heathen error with a golden flood 
Of endless day. To feel is to be fired ; 
And to believe, Lorenzo ! is to feel. 200 

Thou most indulgent, most tremendous Power ! 
Still more tremendous for thy wonderous love ! 
That arms with awe more awful thy commands, 
And foul transgression dips in sevenfold guilt ; 
How our hearts tremble at thy love immense 1 205 
In love immense, inviolably just ! 
Thou, rather than thy justice should be strain'd. 
Didst stain the Cross ; and, work of wonders far 
The greatest, that thy dearest far might bleed. • 

Bold thought ! shall I dare speak it or repress ? 210 
Should man more execrate or boast the sruilt 



r>Q THE COMPLAINT. n. iv. 

Which roused such vengeance ? which such love in- 
flamed ? 
O'er guih (how mountainous !) with outstretch'd arms 
Stern Justice and soft-smiliiig Love embrace, 
Supporting in full majesty thy throne, 215 

When seem'd its majesty to need support ; 
Or that, or man, inevitably lost : 
What but the fathomless of thought divine 
Could labour such expedient from despair, 
And rescue both ? Both rescue ! both exalt ! 220 

O how are both exalted by the deed ! 
The wondrous deed ! or shall I call it more ? 
A wonder in Omnipotence itself. 
A mystery no less to gods than men 1 

Not thus our infidels the' Eternal draw, 225 

A God all o'er consummate, absolute, 
Full orb'd, in his whole round of rays complete : 
They set at odds Heaven's jarring attributes, 
And with one excellence another wound ; 
Maim Heaven's perfection, break its equal beams, 230 
Bid mercy triumph over — God himself, 
Undeified by their opprobrious praise : 
A God all mercy is a God unjust. 

Ye brainless v/its ! ye baptized infidels ! 
Ye worse -for mending ! wash'd to fouler stains ! 235 
The ransom was paid down ; the fund of Heaven, 
Heaven's inexhaustible, exhausted fund. 
Amazing and amazed, pour'd forth the price. 
All price beyond : though curious to compute, 
Archangels fail'd to cast the mighty sum : 240 

Its value vast, ungrasp'd by minds create. 
For ever hides and glows in the Supreme. 

And was the ransom paid ? it was ; and paid 
(What can exalt the bounty more .') for you ! 
The Sun beheld it. — No, the shocking scene 245 

Drove back his chariot ; midnight veil'd his face ; 
Not such as this, not such as Nature makes ; 
A midnight Nature shivdder'd to behold ; 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. oO 

A midnight new ! a dread eclipse (without 
Opposing spheres) from her Creator's frown ! 230 

Sun ! didst thou fly thy Maker's pain ? or start 
At that enormous load of human guilt 
Which bow'd his blessed head, o'er^helm'd his cross, 
Made groan the centre, burst earth's marble womb 
With pangs, strange pangs ! deliver'd of her dead ? 2o5 
Hell howl'd ; and Heaven that hour let fall a tear ; 
Heaven wept, that men might smile I Heaven bled, 
that man 

Might never die ! 

And is devotion virtue ? 'tis coi.^peU'd. 
What heart of stone but glows at thoughts like these ? 
Such contemplations mount us, and should mount 261 
The mind still higher, nor ever glance on man 
Unjaptured, uninflamed. — Where roll'd my thoughts 
To rest from wonders ? other wonders rise, 
And strike where'er they roll : my soul is caught : 265 
Heaven's sovereign blessings, clustering from the cross, 
Rush on her, in a throng, and close her round, 
The prisoner of amaze ! — In his bless'd life 
I see the path, and in his death the price, 
And in his great ascent the proof supreme, 270 

Of immortality. — And did he rise ? — 
Hear, O ye Nations ! hear it, O ye Dead ! 
He rose ! he rose ! he burst the bars of Death. 
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting Gates ! 
And give the King of glory to come in. 2^35 

Who is the King of glory ? he who left 
His throne of glory for the pang of death. 
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting Gates I 
And give the King of glory to come in. 
Who is the King of glory ? he who slew 280 

The ravenous foe that gorged all human race ! 
The King of glory He, whose glory fill'd 
Heaven with amazement at his love to man, 
And with divine complacency beheld 
Powers most illumiiied, wilder 'd in the theme. 285 



60 THE COMPLAIiNT. n. iv. 

The theme, the joy, how then shall man sustain ? 
Oh, the burst gates ! crush'd sting ! demolish'd throne ! 
Lastgaspof vanquish'd Death! Shout, earth and heaven, 
This sum of good to man ! whose nature then 
Took wing, and mounted with him from the tomb. 290 
Then, then I rose ; then first HumaniUj' 
Triumphant pass'd the crystal ports of light, 
(Stupendous gu^st !) and seized eternal youth, 
Seized in our name. E'er since 'tis blasphemous 
To call man mortal. Man's mortality 295 

Was then transferr'd to death ; and Heaven's duration 
Unalienably seal'd to this frail frame. 
This child of dust. — Man, all immortal ! hail ; 
Hail, Heaven ! All lavish of gtrange gifts to man ! 
Thine all the glory, man's the boundless bliss 1 300 

Where am I rapp'd by this triumphant theme, 
On Christian joy's exulting wing, above 
The' Aonian mount ! — Alas \ small cause for joy I 
What, if to pain immortal ? if extent 
Of being, to precliide a close of woe .' 305 

Where, then, my boast of immortality ? 
I boast it still, though cover'd o'er with guilt : 
For guilt, not innocence, his life he pour'd ; 
'Tis guilt alone can justify his death ; 
Nor that, unless his death can justify 310 

Relenting guilt in Heaven's indulgent sight. 
If, sick of folly, I relent ; he v/ritcs 
My name in Heaven with tliat inverted spear 
(A spear deep dipped in blood) which pierced his side, 
And open'd there a font for all mankind, 315 

Who strive, who combat crimes, to drink and live : 
This, only this, subdues the fear of death ! 

And what is this ? — Survey the wondrous cure, 
And at each step let higher wonder rise ! 
' Pardon for infinite offence ! and pardon 320 

Through means that speak its value infinite ! 
A pardon bought with blood ! with blood divine ! 
With blood divine of him I made my foe ; 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. Gl 

Persisted to provoke I though wooed, and awed ; 
Bless'd, and chastised ; a flagrant rebel still ! 325 

A rebel Inidst the thunders of his throne ! 
Nor I alone ! a rebel universe ! 
My species up in arms ! not one exempt ! 
Yet for the fou!-3St of the foul he dies, 
Most joy'd for the redeem'd from deepest guilt ! 330 
As if our race were held of highest rank ; 
And Godhead dearer, as more kind to man !' 

Bound; every heart ; and, every bosom, burn ! 
O what a scale of miracles is here ! 
Its lowest round high planted on the skies, 335 

Its towering summit lost beyond the thought 
Of man or angel ! O that I could climl) 
The wonderful ascent, with equal praise 1 
Praise! flow for ever, (if astonishment 
Will give thee leave) my praise ! for ever flow ; 340 
Praise ardent, cordial, constant, to high Heaven 
More fragrant than Arabia sacrificed, 
And all her spicy mountains in a fl?me. 

So dear, so due to Heaven, shall Praise descend 
With her soft plume (from plausive angels' wing 345 
First pluck'd by man) to tickle mortal ears, 
Thus diving in the pockets of the great ? 
Is praise the perquisite of every paw, 
Though black as hell, that grapples well for gold ? 
O, love of gold ! thou meanest of amours ! 350 

, Shall praise her odours waste on virtues dead, 
Embalm the base, perfume the stench of guilt, 
Earn dirty bread by washing Ethiops fair, 
Removing filth, or sinking it from sight ; 
A scavenger in scenes where vacant posts, 355 

Like gibbets yet untenanted, expect 
Their future ornaments ? From courts and thrones 
Return, apostate Praise I thou vagabond ! 
Thou prostitute ! to thy first love return. 
Thy first, thy greatest, once unrival'd theme. SCO 

' There flow redimdant, like Meander flow, 
G 



62 THE COMPLAINT. n. xr 

Back to the fountain, to that parent Power 
Who gives the tongue to sound, the thought to soar, 
The soul to be. Men homage pay to men, 
Thoughtless beneath whose dreadful eye they bow. 
In mutual awe profound, of clay to clay, 3C6 

Of guilt to guilt, and turn their backs on thee. 
Great Sire ! whom thrones celestial ceaseless sing •, 
To prostrate angels an amazing scene ! 
O the presumption of mans awe for man 1 — 370 

Man's Author ! End ! Restorer ! Law I and Judge ! 
Thine all ! Day thine, and thine this gloom of Night, 
With all her w^ealth, with all her radiant worlds. 
What night eternal, but a frown from thee .'' 
What Heaven's meridian glory, but thy smile .'' 375 
And shall not praise be thine, not human praise, 
While Heaven's high host on hallelujahs live ? 

O may I breathe no longer than I breathe 
My soul in praise to Him who gave my soul ; 
And all her infinite *of prospect fair, 380 

Cut through the shades of hell, great Love ! bj' thee, 
Oh most adorable ! most unadored ! 
Where shall that praise begin, v/hich ne'er should end ? 
Where'er I turn, what claim on all applause ! 
How is Night's sable mantle labour'd o'er, 385 

How richly wrought with attributes divine ! 
What wisdom shines ; what love ! This midnight pomp, 
This gorgeous arch, with golden worlds inlaid ! 
Buivt with divine ambition I nought to thee ; 
For others this profusion. Thou apart. ,''00 

Above ! beyond ! Oh ! tell me, mighty Mind : 
Where art thou ? Shall I dive into the deep ? 
Call to the Sun ? or ask the roaring winds 
For their Creator ! shall I question loud 
The thunder, if in that the' Almighty dwells ? 395 
Or holds He furious storms in straiten'd reins, 
And bids fierce whirlwinds wheel his rapid car ? 

What mean these questions .?— Trembling I retract ; 
My prostrate son! adores the presentvGod ! 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUxMPPI. 6'3 

Praise I a distant Deity ? He tunes 400 

My voice (if tuned ;) the nerve that writes sustains : 

Wrapp'd in his being I resound his praise : 

But though past all diffused, without a shore 

His essence, local is his throne (as meet) 

To gather the dispersed (as standards call 405 

The listed from afar ;) to fix a point, 

A central point, collective of his sons ; ^ 

Since finite every nature but his own. 

The nameless He, whose nod is Nature's birth, 
And Nature's shield the shadow of liis hand ; 410 

Her dissolution his suspended smile ! 
The great First-Last ! pavilion'd hi^h he sits 
In darkness, from excessive splendour born, 
By gods unseen, unless through lustre lost. 
His glory, to created glory, bright, - 415 

As that to central horrors : he looks down 
On all that soars, and spans immensity. 

^Though night unnumber'd worlds unfolds to view, 
Boundless Creation ! what art thou .'' a beam, 
A mere effluvium of his majesty. 420 

And shall an atom of this atom world 
Mutter, in dust and sin, the theme of Heaven .' 
Down to the centre, should I send my thought, 
Through beds of glittering ore and glowing gems ; 
Their bcggar'd blaze wants lustre for my lay ; 425 
Goes out in darkness : if, on towering wing, 
I send it through the boundless vault of stars ! 
The stars, though rich, what dross their gold to thee, 
Great ! good ! wise ! wonderful ! eternal King ! 
If to those coi^scioiis stars thy throne around, 430 

Praise ever pouring, and imbibing bliss, 
And ask their strain : Uiey want it, more they want , 
Poor their abundance, humble their sublime, 
Languid their energy, their ardour cold ; 
Indebted still, their highest rapture burns, 435 

Bhort of its mark, defective though divine ! 

Still more — this thome is man's, and man's alone j 



<ji THE COMPLAINT. k. it 

Their vast appointments reach it not ; they see 
On earth a hounty not indulged on high, 
And downward look for Heaven's superior praise ! 440 
Firstborn of Ether ! high in fields of Light ! 
View man, to see the glory of your God ! 
Could angels envy, they had envied here : 
And some did envy ; and the rest, though gods. 
Yet still gods unredeenvd (there triumphs man, 445 
Tempted to weigh the dust against the skies,) 
They less would feel, though more adorn my theme. 
They sung Creation (for in that they shared ;) 
How rose in melody that child of love ! 
Creation's great superior, man ! is thine ; 450 

Thine is Redemption ! they just gave the key ; 
'Tis thine to raise "and eternize the song, 
Though human, yet divine ; for should not this 
Raise man o'er man, and kindle seraphs here ? 
Redemption ! 'twas Creation more sublime ; 455 

Redemption ! 'twas the labour of the skies ; 
Far more than labour — it was death in Heaven ! 
A truth so strange, 'twere bold to think it true, 
If not far bolder stiil to disbelieve. 459 

Here pause and ponder. V/as there death in Heaven.' 
What then on earth ■' on earth, which struck the blow .'* 
Who struck it ? Who — O how is man enlarged. 
Seen through this medium ! How the pigmy towers ! 
How counterpoised his origin from dust ! 
How counterpoised, to dust his sad return ! 4C5 

How voided his vast distance from the skies ! 
Ho^v near he presses on the seraph's wing ! 
Which is the seraph ? which the born of^clay ? 
How this demonstrates, through the thickest cloud 
Of guilt and clay condensed, th* Son of Heaven ! 470 
The double Son ; the made, and the remade ! 
And shall Heaven's double property be lost ■' — 
Man's double madness only can destroy. 
To man the bleeding Cross has promised all ; 
The bleeding Cross has sworn eternal grace. 475 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. m 

^ Who gave his life, what grace shall He deny ? 
O ye ! who from this rock of ages leap 
Apostates, plunging headlong in the deep ! 
What cordial joy, what consolation streng, 
Whatever winds arise, or billows roll, 480 

Our interest in the Master of the storm ! 
Cling there, and in ^vreck'd Nature's ruins smile : 
WJiilc vile apostates tremble in a calm. 

Man ! know thyself; all wisdom centres there. 
To none man seems ignoble, but to man. 4S5 

Angels that grandeur, men o'erlook, admire : 
How long shall human nature be their book, 
Degenerate mortal ! and unread by thee .' 
The beam dim Reason sheds shows wonders there ; 
What high contents ! illustrious faculties ! 411i0 

But the grand comment, which displays at full 
Our human height, scarce sever'd from divine, 
By Heaven composed, was publish'd on the Cross. 

Who looks on that, and sees not in himself 
An awful stranger, a terrestrial god ? 405 

A glorious partner with the Deity 
In that high attribute, immortal life ? 
If a God bleeds, he bleeds not for a worxn. 
I gaze, and, as I gaze, my mounting soul 
Catches strange fire. Eternity ! at tliee, 509 

And drops the world — or, rather, more enjoys. 
How changed the face of Nature ! how improved ! 
Wlrat seem'd a chaos, shines a glorious world ; 
Or what a world, an Eden ; heighten'd all ! 
It is another scene ! another self! 505 

And still another, as time rolls along, 
And that a self far more illustrious still. - • 

Beyond long ages, yet roll'd up in shades 
Unpierced by bold Conjecture's keenest ray, 
What evolutions of surprising Fate ! 510"' 

How Nature opens, and receives my soul, 
In boundless walks of raptured thought ! where gods 
Encounter and embrace rae ' What new birth 
6*^ 



G6 . THE COMPLAINT. N.iv 

Of strange adventure, foreign to the sun, 
Where what now charms, perhaps, whate'er exists 
Old Time and fair Creation, are forgot. 516 

Is this extravagant .-* of man we form 
Extravagant conception, to be just : 
Conception unconfmed wants wings to reach him ; 
Beyond its reach the Godhead only more. 520 

He, the great Father ! kindled at one flame 
The world of rationals : one spirit pour'd 
From spirits' awful Fountain ; pour'd Himself 
Through all their souls, but not in equal stream, 
Profuse, or frugal, of the' inspiring God, 525 

As his wise plan demanded ; and when pass'd 
Their various trials, in their various spheres, 
If they continue rational, as made, 
Resorbs them all into Himself again. 
His throne their centre, and his smile their crown. 530 

Why doubt we, then, tlie glorious truth to sing, 
Though yet unsung, as deem'd, perhaps, too bold ? 
Angels are men of a superior kind ; 
Angels are men in lighter habit clad, 
High o'er celestial mountains v.nng'd in flight ; 535 
And men are angels, loaded for an hour, 
Who wade this miry vale, and climb Vv^ith pain. 
And slippery step, the bottom of the steop. 
Angels their failings, mortals have their praise : 
While here, of corps ethereal, such enroll'd, 540 

And summon'd to the glorious standard soon. 
Which flames eternal crimson through the skies. 
Nor are our brothers thoughtless of their kin, 
Yet absent ; but not absent from their love. 
Michael has foiight our battles ; Raphael sung 545 
Our triumphs ; Gabriel on our errands flown. 
Sent by the Sovereign : and are these, O man ! 
Thy friends, thy warm allies .^ a,nd thou (shame burn 
The cheek to cinder !) rival to the brute ? 

Religion's all. Descending from the skies 550 

To wretched man. the goddess in her left 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. 07 

Holds out this world, and in her right the next 

Religion ! tlie sole voucher man is man ; 

Supporter sole of man above, himself ; 

E'en in this night of frailt}'^, change, and death, 555 

She gives tiie isoui a soul that ac^s a god. 

Religion ! Providence ! an after state ! 

Here is firm footing ; here is solid rock ; 

This can support us ; all is sea besides ; 

Sinks under us ; bestorms, and then devours. 500 

His hand the good man fastens on the sides, • 

And bids earth roll, nor feels her idle whirl 

As when a v.'retch, from thick polluted air, 
Darkness and stench, and suffocating damps, 
And dungeon horrors, by kind Fate discharged, 565 
Climbs some fair eminence, where ether pure 
Surrounds him, and Elysian prospects rise ; 
His heart exults, his spirits cast, their load, 
As if newborn he triumphs in the change r 
So joys the soul, "/hen from inglorious aims 57^) 

And sordid sweets, from feculence and froth 
Of ties terrestrial set at large, she mounts 
To Reason's region, her own element. 
Breathes hopes immortal, and affects the skies 

Religion! thou the soul of happiness, 575 

And, groaning Calvary ! of thee : there shine , 
"^he noblest truths ; there strongest motives sting ; 
There sacred violence assaults the soul-; 
There nothing but compulsion is forborne. 
Can love allure us ! or can terror awe ? 580 

He weeps ! — the falling drop puts out the Sun : 
He sighs ! — the sigh earth's deep foundation shakes. 
If in his love so terrible, what then 
His wrath inflamed ? his tenderness on fire ? 
Like soft, smooth oil, outblazing other fires ? 585 

Can prayer, can praise, avert it ? — Thou, my all J 
My theme ! my inspiration ! and my crown ? 
My strength in age ! my rise in low estate ! 
Mj soul's ambition, pleasure, wealth ! — mv world ' 



OS' . THE COMPLAINT'. ».it. 

My llglit in darkness ! and my life in death ! 590 

My boast through time ! bliss through eternity ! 
, Eternity, too short to speak thy praise, 
Or fathom thy profound of love to man ! 
To man of men the meanest, e'en to me ; 
My sacrifice ! my God ! — what things are these ! 595 

What then art Thou ? by what name shall I call thee ? 
Knew I the name devout archangels use, 
Devout archangels should the name enjoy, 
By me unrivald ; thousands more sublime, 
None half so dear a^ that which, though unspoke, 600 
Still glows at heart. O how Omnipotence 
Is lost in love ! thou great Philanthropist ! 
Father of angels ! but the friend of man ! 
Like Jacob, fondest of the younger born I 
Thou who didst save him, snatch the smoking brand 
From out the flames, and quench it in thy blood ! 606 
How art thou pleased by bounty to mstress ! 
To make us groan beneath our gratitude. 
Too big for birth 1 to favour and confound ; 
To challenge and to distance all return ! 610 

Of lavish love stupendous heights to soar. 
And leave Praise panting in the distant vale ! 
Thy right, too grcal, defrauds thee of thy due ; 
And sacrilegious our sublimest song ! 
But since the naked will obtains thy smile, 615 

Beneath this monument of praise unpaid. 
And future life sj^mphonious to my strain, 
(That noblest hymn to Heaven !) for ever lie 
Kntomb'd my fear of death ! and every fear. 
The dread of every evil, but thy frown. 620 

Whom see I yonder so demurely smile .'' 
Laughter a labour, and might break their rest. 
Ye ^uietists ! in homage to the skies ! 
Serene ! of soft address ! who mildly make 
An unobtrusive tender of your hearts, 625 

Abhorring violence ! who halt indeed, 
Butj for the blessingi v/festle nat with Heaven ! 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. f» 

Tliink you my song too turbulent ? too warm ? 
Arc passions, then, the pagans of the soul ? 
Reason alone baptized ? alone ordain'd GflO 

To touch things sacred ? Oh, for warmer still 1 
Guilt chills my zeal, and age benumbs my powers : 
Oh, for an humbler heart and prouder song I 
Thou, my much injured Theme ! with that soft oyo 
Which melted o'er doom'd Salem, deign to look 035 
Compassion to the coldness of my breast, 
And pardon to the winter in my strain. 

Oh, ye cold-hearted, frozen Formalists ! 
On such a theme 'tis impious to be calm : 
Passion is reason, transport temper here. 040 

Shall Heaven, which gave us ardour, and has shown 
Her own for man so strongly, not disdain 
What smooth emollients in theology, 
Recumbent Virtue's downy doctors, preach ; 
That prose of piety, a lukewarm praise ? 6-15 

Rise odours sweet from incense uninflamed ? 
Devotion when lukewarm is undevout ; 
But when it glows, its heat is struck to Heaven, 
To human hearts her golden harps are strung ; 
High Heaven's orchestra chants Amen to man. 650 

Hear I, or dream I hear, their distant strain, 
Sweet to the soul, and tasting strong of Heaven, 
Soft wafted on celestial Pity's plume, 
Through the vast spaces of the universe, 
To cheer me in this melancholy gloom ? 055 

Oh, when will Death (now stingless) like a friend 
Admit me of their choir ? Oh, when will Death 
This mouldering, old, partition wall throw down .'* 
Give beings, one in nature, one abode ? 
Oh, Death divine ! that givest us to the skies : (JGO 
Great future ! glorious patron of the past 
And present ! when shall I. thy shrine adore .-* 
From Nature's continent, immensely wide, 
Immensely bless'd, this little isle of life, 
This dark incarcerating colony Cfl5 



7,Q THE COMPLAINT. n. ir. 

Bivides us. Happy day ! that breaks our chain ; 

That manumits ; that calls from exile home ; 

That leads to Nature's great metropolis, 

And readmits us, through the guardian hand 

Of elder brothers, to our Father's throne ; - 67D 

Who hears our Advocate, and, through his wounds 

Beholding man, allows that-tender name. 

'Tis this makes Christian triumph a command : 

'Tis this makes joy a duty to the wise. 

'Tis impious in a good man to be sad. 675 

Scest thou, Lorenzo, where hangs all our hope ? 
Touch'd by the Cross, we live ; or, more than die ; 
That touch which touch'd not angels ; more divin-e 
Than that which touch'd confusion into form, 
And darkness into glory ; partial touch ! GSO- 

Ineffably preeminent regard ! 
Sacred to man, and sovereign through the whole 
Long golden chain of miracles, which hangs 
From Heaven through all duration, and supports, 
In one illustrious and amazing plan, 085 

Thy welfare, Nature ! and thy God's fenown. 
That touch, with charms celestial, heals the soul 
Diseased, drives pain from guilt, lights life in death. 
Turns earth to Heaven, to heavenly thrones transforms 
The ghastly ruins of the mouldering tomb. G9C* 

Dost ask me when .'' \Vhen He who died returns } 
Returns, hnv/changed ; where then the man of woe ? 
Jn Glury's terrors all the Godhead burns, 
And all his couj-ts, exhausted by the tide 
Of deities triumphant in his train, 605 

Leave a stupendous solitude in Heaven ; 
Replenisii'd soon, replcnish'd with increase 
Of pomp and multitude ; a radiant band 
Of angels new, of angels from the tomb ' 

Is this by Fancy thrown remote ? and rise 70.0 

Dark doubts between the promise and event ^ 
I send thee net to volumes for thy cure ; 
.Read Nature ; Nature is a friend to truth ; 



THE CIIIIISTIAN TRIUMHI. 71 

Nature is Christian ; preaches to mankind, 
And bids dead matter aid us in our creed. 705 

Hast thou ne'er seen the comet's flaming flight ^ 
The' illustrious stranger passing, terror sheds 
On gazing nations from his fiery train 
Of length enormous ; takes his ample round 
Through depths of ether ; coasts unnumber'd worlds 
Of more than solar glory ; doubles wide 711 

Heaven's mighty cape ; and then revisits eatth, 
From the long travel of a thousand years. 
Thus at the destined period shall return. 
He, once on earth, who bids the comet blaze, 715 

And with Him all our triumph o'er the tomb. 

Nature is dumb on this important point, 
Our Hope precarious in low whisper breathes ; 
Faith speaks aloud, distinct ; e'en adders hear, 
But turn, and dart into the dark again. 720 

Faith builds a bridge across the gulf of death, 
To break V^ie shock blind Nature cannot shun. 
And lands Thought smoothly on the farther shore 
Death's terror is the mountain faith removes. 
That mountain barrier between man and peace. 725 
'Tis Faith disarms Destruction, and absolves 
From every clamorous charge the guiltless tomb. 

Why disbelieve ? Lorenzo ! — ' Reason bids ; 
All-sacred Reason.' — Hold her sacred still j 
Nor shalt thou want a rival in thy flame : 730 

All-sacred Reason ! source, and soul, of all 
Demanding praise, on earth, or earth above ! 
My heart is thine : deep in its inmost folds 
Live thou with life ; live dearer of the two. 
Wear I the blessed Cross, by Fortune stamp'd 735 
On passive Nature before Thought was born .' 
My birth's blind bigot ! fired with local zeal ! — • 
No : Reason rebaptizcd me when adult : 
Weigh'd true and false in her impartial scale ; 
My heart became the convert of my head, 7iiO 



72 TPIE COMPLAINT. n.iv. 

And made that choice which once was but my fate 
* On argument alone my faith is built/ 
Reason pursued is Faith > and unpursued, 
Where proof invites, 'tis reason then no more : 
And such our proof, that or our Faith is right, 745 
Or Reason lies, and Heaven designed it wrong. 
Absolve we this ! what 'then is blasphemy .' — 

Fond as we are, and justly fond of Faith, 
Reason, we grant, demands our first regard ; 
The mother honour 'd, ais the daughter dear. 750 

Reason the root, fair Faith is but the flower : 
The fading flower shall die, but Reason lives 
Immortal, as her Father in the skies ! 
When Faith is virtue, Reason makes it so. 
Wrong not the Christian ; think not Reason yours ^ 
'Tis Reason our great Master holds so dear ; 756 

'Tis Reason's injured rights his wrath resents ; 
■'Tis Reason's voice obey'd his glories crown : 
To give lost Reason life he pour'd his own. 
Believe, and show the reason of a man ; 760 

Believe, and taste the pleasure of a god ; 
Believe, and look with triumph on the tomb. 
Through Reason's wounds alone thy Faith can die, 
Which dying, tenfold teiTor gives to Death, 
And dips in venom his twice mortal sting. 765 

Learn hence what honours, what loud pajans, due 
To those who push our antidote aside ; 
Those boasted friends to Reason and to man, 
Whose fatal love stabs every joy^ and leaves 
Death's terror heighten'd, gnawing on his heart. 770 
These pompous sons of Reason idolized, 
And vilified at once ; of Reason dead. 
Then deified, as monarchs were of old ; 
What conduct plants proud laurels on their brow ? 
While love of truth through all their camp resoun<2 
They draw Pride's curtain o'er the noontide ray, 77C 
Spike up their inch of ri ason on the point 



THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH. 73 

Of pliilosophic wit, call'd Argument, 
And then exulting in their taper, cry, 
' Behold the Sun !' and, Tndianlike, adore. 780 

Talk they of morals ? O thou bleeding Lovne 1 
Thou Maker of new morals to mankind 1 
The grand morality is love of Thee. 
As wise as Socrates, if such they were 
(Nor will they bate of that sublime renown,) 785 

As wise as Socrates might justly stand 
The definition of a modern fool. 

A Christian is the highest style of man ! 
And is there who the blessed Cross wipes off, 
As a foul blot, from his dishonour'd brow ? 799 

If angels tremble, 'tis at such a sight : 
The wretch they quit, desponding of their charge, 
More struck with grief or wonder who can tell ? 

Ye sold to sense ! ye citizens of earth ' 
(For such alone the Christian banner fly) 795 

Know ye how wise your choice, how great your gain ? 
Behold the picture of Earth's happiest man : 
* He calls his wish, it comes : he sends it back, 
And says he call'd another : that arrives, 
Meets the same welcome ; yet he still calls on ; 800 
Till one calls him, who varies not his call, 
But holds him fast, in chains of darkness bound, 
Till Nature dies, and Judgment sets him free ; 
A freedom far less welcome than his cham.' 

But grant man happy ; grant him happy long ; 805 
Add to life's highest prize her latest hour ; 
That hour, so late, is nimble in approach. 
That, like a post, comes on in full career. 
How swift the shuttle flies that weaves thy shroud ! 
Where is the fable of thy former years ? 810 

Thrown down the gulf of time ; as far from thee 
As they had near been thine ; the day in hand, 
Like a bird struggling to get loose, is going ; 
Scarce now possess'd, so suddenly 'tis gone ; 
And each svrift moment fled, is deatlj advanced ^15 



n THE COMPLAINT. 

By strides as swift. Eternity is all ; 

And whose eternity ? who triumphs there ? / 

Bathing for ever in the font of bliss ! 

For ever basking in the Deity ! 

Lorenzo ! who ? — thy conscience shall reply. 820 

O give it leave to speak ; 'twill speak ere long 
Thy leave unask'd. Lorenzo ! hear it now, 
While useful its advice, its accent mild. 
By the great edict, the divine decree, 
TrutJi is deposited with man's last hour ; 825 

An honest hour, and faithful to her trust ; 
Truth ! eldest daughter of the Deity i 
Truth ! of his council when he made the worlds ; 
Nor less, when he shall judge the worlds he made ; 
Though silent long, and sleeping ne'er so sound, 830 
Smother'd with errors, and oppress'd with toys, 
That heaven-commission'd hour no sooner calls, 
But from her cavern in the soul's abyss, 
Like him they fable under iEtna whclm'd, 
The goddess bursts in thunder and in flame, 835 

Loudly convinces, and severely pains. 
Dark demons I discharge, and hydra-stings ; 
The keen vibration of bright Truth — is Hell ; 
Just definition ! though by schools untaught. 
Ye deaf to truth ! peruse this parson'd page, 840 

And trust, for once, a prophet and a priest ; — 
' Men may live fools, but fools they cannot die.' 



NIGHT Y. 



TO THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF LITCHFIELD. 

Lorenzo ! to recriminate is just. 

* Fondness for fame is avarice of air.' 

I grant tlie man is vain who writes for praise : 

Praise no man e'er deserved, who sought no more. 

As just thy second charge. I grant the Muse 5 
Has often blush'd at her degenerate eons, 
Rctain'd by Sense to plead her filthy cause, 
To raise the low, to magnify the mean, 
And subtilize the gross into refined ; 
As if to magic numbers' powerful charm 10 

'Twas given to make a civet of their song 
Obscene, and sweeten ordure to perfume. 
Wit, a true pagan, deifies the brute, 
And lifts our swine enjoyments from the mire. 

The fact notorious, nor obscure the cause. 15 

We wear the chains of pleasure and of pride : 
These share the man, and these distract him too ; 
Draw different ways, and clash in their commands. 
Pride, like an eagle, builds among the stars ; 
But Pleasure, larklike, nests upon the ground. 20 

Joys, shared by brute creation. Pride resents ; 
Pleasure embraces ; man would both enjoy, ,, 

And both at once : a point how hard to gain ! 
But what can't Wit, when stung by strong desire ? 

Wit dares attempt this arduous enterprise. 25 

f^ince joys of Sense can't rise to Reason's taste, 



76 THE COMPLAINT. n. t. 

In subtk Sophistry's laborious forgo 

"Wit hammers out a reason new, that stoops 

To sordid scenes, and meets them with applause. 

"Wit calls the Graces the chaste zone to loose, 30 

Nor less than a plump god to fill the bowl : 

A thousand phantoms and a thousand spells, 

A thousand opiates scatters to delude, 

To fascinate, inebriate, lay asleep. 

And the fool'd mind delightfully confound. 35 

Thus tJiat which shock'd the judgment shocks no more; 

That whicli gave pride offence, no more offends. 

Pleasure and Pride, by nature mortal foes, 

At war eternal, wliich in man shall reign, 

By Wit's address patch up a fatal peace, 4ft 

And hand in hand lead on the rank debaucli. 

From rank, refined to delicate and gay. 

Art, cursed Art ! wipes off the' indebted blush 

From Nature's cheek, and bronzes every shame. 

Man smiles in ruin, glories in his guilt, 45 

And Infamy stands candidate for praise. 

All writ by man in favour of the soul. 
These sensual ethics far, in bulk, transcend. 
The flowers of eloquence, profusely pour'd 
O'er spotted Vice, fill half the letter'd world. 50- 

Can pov,-crs of genius exercise their page. 
And consecrate enormities with song ! 

But let not these inexpiable strains 
Ck>ndemn the Muse that knows her dignity, 
Nor meanly stops at time, but holds the world 55- 

As 'tis, in Nature's ample field, a point, 
A point in her esteem ; from whence to start, 
And run the round of universal space, 
To visit being universal there, 

And being's Source, that utmost flight of mind ! CO 
Yet spite of this so vast circumference, 
"Well knows but what is moral nought is great. 
Sing sirens only .'' do not angels sing ? 
There is in Poesy a decent pride 



THE RELAPSE. m. 

Which well becomes her when she speaks to Prose, 
Pier younger sister, haply not more wise. 6G 

Think'st thou, Lorenzo, to find pastimes here ? 
No gvxilty passion blown into a flame, 
No foible flatter 'd, dignity disgraced. 
No fairy field of fiction, all on flower, 70 

No rainbow colours, here, or silken tale ; 
But solemn counsels, images of awe. 
Truths, whicli Eternity lets fall on man. 
With double weight through these revolving spheres, 
This death-deep silence, and incumbent shade : 75 
Thoughts such as shall revisit your last hour, 
Visit uncalid, and live Avhen life expiresj 
And thy dark pencil. Midnight ! darker still 
In melancholy dipp'd, imbrowns the whole. 

Yet this, e'en this, my laughter-loving friends ! §0 
Lorenzo ! and thy brothers of the smile ' 
If what imports you most can most engage, 
Shall steal your ear, and chain you to my song. 
Or if you fail me, know the wise shall taste 
The truths I sing ; the truths I sing shall feel ; 85 
And, feeling, give assent ; and their assent 
Is ample recompense ; is more than praise. 
But chiefly thine, O Litchfield ! — nor mistake j 
Think not unintroduced I force my way : 
Narcissa, not unknown, not unallied 90 

By virtue, or by blood, illustrious youth ! 
To thee, from blooming amaranthine bowers, 
Where all the language harmony, descends 
Uncall'd, and asks admittance for the Muse ; 
A Muse that will not pain thee with thy praise : 95 
Thy praise she drops, by nobler still inspired. 

O thou, bless'd Spirit ! whether the Supreme, 
Great antemundane Fatlior ! in whose breast 
Embryo-Creation, unborn being, dwelt, 
And all its various revolutions roll'd 100 

Present, though future, prior to themselves ; 
Whose breath can blow it into nought agaip, 



"7^ THE COiMPLAINT. n.r. 

Or from his throne some delegated power, 

Who, studious of our peace, dost turn tlie thought 

From vain and vile to solid and sublime ! 105 

Unseen thou lead'st me to delicious draughts 

Of inspiration, from a purer stream, 

And fuller of the God, than that which burst 

From famed Castalia ; nor is yet allay 'd 

]My sacred thirst, though long my soul has ranged 110 

Through pleasing paths of moral and divine, 

By thee sustain'd, and lighted by the stars. 

By them best lighted are the paths of thought; 
!Nights are tlicir days, their most illumined hours. 
By day the soul, o'erborne by life's career, 115 

Stunn'd by the din, and giddy with the glare, 
Reels far from reason, jostled by the throng. 
By day the soul is passive, all her thoughts 
Imposed, precarious, broken, ere mature. 
By night, from objects free, from passion cool, 11^0 
Thoughts uncontroll'd and unimpress'd, the births 
Of pure election, arbitrary range. 
Not to tlie limits of one world confined ; 
But from ethereal travels light on earth, 
As voyagers drop anchor, for repose. J2r» 

Let Indians, and the gay, like Indians, fond 
Of fcather'd fopperies, the Sun adore : 
Darkness has more divinity for me ; 
It strikes thought inward; it drives back the soul 
To settle on herself, our point supreme! 130 

There lies our theatre ; there sits our judge. 
Darkness the curtain drops o'er life's dull scene ; 
'Tis the kind hand of Providence stretch'd out 
'Twi.xt man and vanity ; 'tis Reason's reign, 
And Virtue's too ; these tutelary shades 135 

Are man's asylum from the tainted throng. 
Night is the good man's friend, and guardian too ; 
It no less rescues virtue than inspires. 

Virtue, for ever frail as fair below. 
Hep lender nature suffers in the crowd, HSI 



THE RELAPSE. TO 

Nor tvouches on the world without a slain. 
The world's infectious ; few bring back at eve, 
Immaculate, the manners of the morn. 
Something we thought, is blotted ; we resolved, 
Is shaken ; we renounced, returns again. l-lb 

Each salutation may slide in a sin 
Unthought before, or fix a former flaw. 
Nor is it strange ; light, motion, concourse, noise, 
All scatter us abroad. Thought, outward-bound, 
Neglectful of our home affairs, flies off 150 

In fume and dissipation, quits her charge, 
And leaves the breast unguarded to the foe. 

Present example gets within ova- guard, 
And acts with double force, by few repell'd. 
Ambition fires ambition ; love of gain 155 

Strikes, like a pestilence, from breast to breast : 
Riot, pride, perfidy, blue vapours breathe ; 
And inhumanity is caught from man. 
From smiling man ! A slight, a single glance, 
And shot at random, often has brought home 160 

A sudden fever to the throbbing heart 
Of envy, rancour, or impure desire. 
We see, we hear, with peril ; Safety dwells 
Remote from multitude. The world 's a school 
Of wrong, and what proficients sv^rarm around I 165 
We must or imitate or disapprove ; 
Must list as their accomplices or foes : 
That stains our innocence, this wounds our peace. 
From Nature's birth, hence, Wisdom has been smit 
With sweet recess, and languish'd for the shade. 170 

This sacred shade and solitude what is it ? 
'Tis the felt presence of the Deity ! 
Few are the faults we flatter when alone ; 
Vice sinks in her allurements, is unguilt. 
And looks, like other objects, black by night. 175 

By night an atheist half believes a God ! 

Night is fair Virtue's immemorial friend. 
The conscious Moon, through every distant age, 



80 THE COMPLAINT. n. v 

Has held a lamp to Wisdom, and let fall, 

On Contemplation's eye, her purging ray. 180 

The famed Athenian, he who woo'd from Heaven 

Philosophy the fair, to dwell with men, 

And form their manners, not inflame their pride . 

While o'er his head, as fearful to molest 

His labouring mind, the stars in silence slide, 185 

And seem all gazing on their future guest, 

See him soliciting his ardent siiit 

In private audience : all the livelong night, 

lligid in thouglit, and motionless, he stands ; 

Nor quits his theme or posture till the Sun 190 

(Rude drunkard ! rising rosy from the main) 

Disturbs his nobler intellectual beam, 

And gives liim to the tumult of the world. 

Hail, precious moments ! stolen from the black waste 

Of murder'd time ! auspicious Midnight, hail ! 195 

The world excluded, every passion husli'd, 

And opeu'd a calm intercourse with Heaven, 

Here the soul sits in council, ponders past, 

Predestines future action ; sees, not feels . 

Tumultuous Life, and reasons with the storm, 290 

All her lies answers, and thinks down her charms. 

What awful joy I what mental liberty I 
I am not pent in darkness ; rather say 
(If not too bold) in darkness I'm imbower'd. 
Delightful gloom ! the clustering thoughts around 205 
Spontaneous rise, and blossom in the shade ; 
But droop by day, and sicken in the Sun ; 
Thought borrows light elsewhere ; from that first fire, 
Fountain of animatiori ! whence descends 
Urania, my celestial guest I who deigns 210 

Nightly to visit me, so mean, and now, 
Conscious how needful discipline to man, 
From pleasing dalliance with the charms of Night, 
My wandering thought rccals, to what excites - 
Far other beat of heart, Narcissa's tomb [ 215 

Or is it feeble Nature calls me back, 



THE RELAPSE. 81 

And breaks my spirit into grief again r 

Is it a Stygian vapour in my blood ? 

A cold slow puddle, creeping through my veins ? 

Or is it thus with all men ? — Thus with all. 220 

What are we ? how unequal ! now we soar, 

And now we sink. To be the same transcends 

Our present prowess. Dearly pays the soul 

For lodging ill ; too dearly rents her clay. 

Reason, a baffled counsellor ' but adds 225 

The blush of weakness to the bane of woe. 

The noblest spirit, fighting her hard fate 

In this damp dusky region, charged Avith storms, 

But feebly flutters, yet untaught to fly ; 

Or, flying, short her flight, and sure her fall : 230 

Our utmost strength, when down, to rise again ; 

And not to yield, though beaten, all our praise. 

'Tis vain to seek in men for more than man. 
Though proud in promise, big in previous thought, 
Experience damps our triumph. I, who late, 235 
Emerging from the shadows of the grave. 
Where grief detain 'd me prisoner, mounting high, 
Threw wide the gates of everlasting day, 
And call'd mankind to glory, shook of pain, 
Mortality shook off", in ether pure, 240 

And struck the stars ; now feel my spirits fail ; 
They drop me from the zenith ; down I rush, 
Like him whom fable fledged Vi^ith waxen wings, 
In sorrow drown'd — but not in sorrow lost. 
How wretched is the man who never mourn d ! 245 
I dive for precious pearl in Sorrow's stream : 
Not so the thoughtless man that only grieves. 
Takes all the torment, and rejects the gain, 
(Inestimable gain !) and gives Heaven leave 
To make him but more wretched, not more wise. 250 

If v/isdom is our lesson (and what else 
Ennobles man .'' what else have angels learn'd .'') 
Grief! more proficients in thy school are made, 



-i THE COMPLAI^fT. n. v. 

Thau Genius or proud Learning e'er could boast. 

Voracious Learning, often overfed, 255 

Digests not into sense her motley meal. 

This bookcase, with dark booty almost burst, 

This forager on others' wisdom, leaves 

Her native farm, her reason, quite untill'd ; 

With mix'd manure she surfeits the rank soil, 2G0 

Dung'd, but not dress'd, and rich to beggary : 

A pomp untamable of weeds prevails ; . , 

Her servant's wealth encumber'd Wisdom mourns. 

And what says Genius .' ' Let the dull be wise !' 
Genius, too hard for right, can prove it wrong, 2G5 
And loves to boast, where blusli men less inspired. 
It pleads exemption from the laws of Sense, 
Considers Reason as a leveller. 
And scorns to share a blessing with the crowd. 
That wise it could be, thinks an ample claim ; 270 
To glory and to pleasure gives the rest. 
Crassus but sleeps, Ardelio is undone. 
Wisdom less shudders at a fool than wit. 

But Wisdom smiles, when humbled mortals weep. 
When Sorrow wounds the breast, as ploughs the glebe, 
And hearts obdurate feel her softening shower ; 270 
Her seed celestial, then, g^lad Wisdom sows ; 
Her golden harvest triumphs in the soil. 
If so, Narcissa ! welcome my relapse ; 
I'll raise a tax on my calamity, 280 

And i"*p.p rich compensation from my pain, 
I'll range the plenteous intellectual field. 
And gather every thought of sovereign power 
To chase the moral maladies of man ; 
Thoughts which may bear transplanting to the skies, 
Though natives of this coarse penurious soil ; 2SG 

Nor wholly wither there, where seraphs sing, 
Refined, exalted, not annull'd. in Heaven : 
Reason, the sun that gives them birth, the same 
In either clime, thouoh more illustrious there. 290 



THE RELAPSE. 83 

These choicely cull'd, and elegantly ranged, 
Shall form a garland for Narcissa's tomb, 
And, peradventure, of no fadmg flowers. 

Say, on what themes shall puzzled choice descend ? 
* The' importance of contemplating the tomb ; 295 
Why men decline it ; suicide's foul birth : 
The various kinds of grief; the faults of age ; 
And Death's dread character — invite my song.' 

And, first, the' importance of our end survey 'd. 
Friends counsel quick dismission of our grief 300 

Mistaken kindness ! our hearts heal too soon. 
Are they more kind than Ke who struck the blow : 
Who bid it do his errand in our hearts, 
And banisli peace till nobler guests arrive, 
And bring it back a true and endless peace ? 305 

Calamities are friends : as glaring day 
Of these unnumber'd lustres robs our sight. 

Prosperity puts out unnumber'd thoughts 

Of import high, and light divine, to man. 
The man how bless'd, who, sick of gaudy scenes, 

(Scenes apt to thrust between us and ourselves !) 311 

Is led b}'^ choice to take his favourite walk 

Beneath Death's gloomy, silent, cypress shades, 

Unpierced by Vanity's fantastic ray ; 

To read his monuments, to weigh his dust, 315 

Visit his vaults, and dwell among the tombs ! 

liorenzo ! read with me Narcissa's stone ; 

(Narcissa was thy favourite) let us read 

Pier moral stone ; few doctors preach so well ; 

Few orators so tenderly can touch 320 

The feeling heart. What pathos in the date ! 

Apt words can strike ; and yet in tliem we see 

Faint images of what we here enjoy. 

What cause have we to build on length of lifeW 

Temptations seize when fear is laid asleep, 325 

And ill foreboded is our strongest guard. 

See from her tomb, as from an humble shrine, 

Truth, radiant goddess I sallies on my soul, 



84 THE complaint: n. r. 

And puts Delusion's dusky train to flight , 

Dispels the mist our sultry passions raise 330 

From objects low, terrestrial, and obscene, 

And shows the real estimate of things, 

Which no man, unafflicted, ever saw : 

Pulls off the veil from Virtue's rising charms ; 

Detects Temptation in a thousand lies. 335 

Truth bids me look on men as autumn leaves, 

And all they bleed for as the summer's dust 

Driven by the whirlwind : lighted by her beams, 

I widen my horizon, gain new powers. 

See things invisible, feel things remote, 340 

Am present with futurities ; think nought 

To man so foreign as the joys possess'd. 

Nought so much his as those beyond the grave. 

No folly keeps its colour in her sight , 
Pale worldly Wisdom loses all her charms. 345 

In pompous promise from her schemes profound, 
If future fate she plans, 'tis all in leaves, 
Like sibyl, unsubstantial, fleeting bliss 1 
At the first blast it vanishes in air. 
Not so celestial. Wouldst thou know, Lorenzo ! 350 
How ditfer worldly Wisdom and divine ? 
Just as the waning and the waxing moon. 
More empty worldly Wisdom every day, 
And every day more fair her rival shines. 
When later, there's less time to play the fool. 355 

Soon our whole term for Wisdom is expired 
(Thou know'st she calls no council in the grave,) 
And everlasting fool is writ in fire, 
Or real wisdom wafts us to the skies. 

As worldly schemes resembles sibyls' leaves, 3G0 
The good man's days to sibyls' books compare 
(In ancient story read, thou know'st the tale ) 
In price still rising as in number less. 
Inestimable quite his final hour. 

For that who thrones can offer, offer thrones ', 3jS5 
Insolvent M^orlds the purchase cannot pay. 



THE RELAPSE. So 

* Oh let me die his death !' all Nature cries. 

* Then live his life.' — All Nature falters there ; 
Our great phj'^sician daily to consult, 

To commune with the grave, our only cure. 370 

What grave prescribes the best ^ — A friend's; and yet 
From a friend's grave how soon we disengage ! 
E'en to the dearest, as his marble, cold. 
Why are friends ravish'd from us } 'tis to bind, 
By soft Affection's ties, on human hearts 375 

The thought of Death, which Reason, too supine, 
Or misemploy'd, so rarely fastens there. 
Nor Reason nor Affection, no, nor both 
Combined, can break the witchcrafts of the world. 
Behold the' inexorable hour at hand ; 380 

Behold the' inexorable hour forgot ! 
And to forget it the chief aim of life, 
Though well to ponder it is life's chief end. 

is Death, that ever threatening, ne'er remote, 
That all important, and that only sure, 383 

(Come when he will) an unexpected guest ^ 
Nay, though invited by the loudest calls 
Of blind Imprudence, unexpected still 1 
Though numerous messengers are sent before, 
To warn his great arrival .? What the cause, 890 

The wondrous cause, of this mysterious ill ^ 
All Heaven looks down, astonish 'd at the sight ! 

Is it that Life has sown her joys so thick, 
We can't thrust in a single care between .' 
Is it that Life has such a swarm of cares, 395 

The thought of Death can't enter for the throng .'' 
Is it that Time steals on with downy feet, 
Nor wakes Indulgence from her golden dream .' 
To-day is so like yesterday, it cheats j 
We take the lying sister for the same. 400 

Life glides away, Lorenzo ! like a brook, 
For ever changing, unperceived the change. 
In the same brook none ever bathed him twice ; 
To the same life none ever twice awoke. 
8 



86 THE COMPLALNT. n v. 

We call the brook the same : the same we think 405 

Our life, though still more rapid in its flow, 

Nor mark the much irrevocably lapsed, 

And mingled with the sea. Or shall we say 

(Retaining still the brook to bear us on) 

That life is like a vessel on the stream ? 410 

In life embark'd, we smoothly down the tide 

Of time descend, but not on time intent ; 

Amused, unconscious of the ghding wave, 

Till on a sudden we perceive a shock ; 

We start, awake, look out : what see we there ! 415 

Our brittle bark is burst on Charon's shore. 

Is this the cause Death flies all human thought ? 
Or is it Judgment, by the Will struck blind, 
That domineering mistress of the soul ! 
Like him so strong, by Dalilah the fair ? — 420 

Or is it fear turns startled Reason back, 
Frcm looking down a precipice so steep ? — 
'Tis dreadful ; and the dread is wisely placed 
By Nature, conscious of the make of man, 
A dreadful friend it is, a terror kind, 425 

A flaming sword to guard the tree of Life. 
By that unawed, in Life's most smiling hour 
The good man would repine ; would suffer joys, 
And burn impatient for his promised skies. 
The bad, on each punctilious pique of pride, 430 

Or gloom of humour, would give Rage the rein, 
Bound o'er the barrier, rush into the dark. 
And mar the scenes of Providence below. 

What groan was that, Lorenzo ? — Furies 1 rise, 
And drown in your less execrable yell, 435 

Britannia's shame. There took her gloomy flight, 
On wing impetuous, a black sullen soul, 
Blasted from hell with horrid lust of death. 
Thy friend, the brave, the gallant Altamont, 
So call'd, so thought — and then he fled the field } 440 
Less base the fear of death than fear of life. 
O Britain ! infamous for suicide ! 



THE RELAPSE. 87 

An island, in thy manners : far disjoind 
From tlie whole world of rationals beside ! 
In ambient waves plunge thy polluted head, 445 

Wash the dire stain, nor shock the continent. 

But thou be shock'd, while I detect the cause 
Of self-assault, expose the monster's birth. 
And bid Abhorrence hiss it round the world. 
Blame not thy clime, nor chide the distant Sun ', 450 
The Sun is innocent, thy clime absolved. 
Immoral climes kind Nature never made. 
The cause I sing, in Eden might prevail, 
And proves it is thy folly, not thy fate. 

The soul of man (let man in homage bow 455 

Who names his soul.) a native of the skies ! 
Highborn and free, her freedom should maintain. 
Unsold, unmortgaged for earth's little bribes. 
The' illustrious stranger, in this foreign land, 
Like strangers, jealous of her dignity, 4G0 

Studious of home, and ardent to return. 
Of earth suspicious, Earth's enchanted cup 
With cool reserve light couching, should indulge 
On immortality her godlike taste ; [there. 

There take large draughts ; ra^ike her chief banquet 

But some reject this sustenance divine, 466 

To beggarly vile appetites descend. 
Ask alms of Earth, for guests that came from Heaven ! 
Sink into slaves, and sell, for present hire, 
Their rich reversion, and (what shares its fate) 470 
Their native freedom, to the prince who sways 
This nether world : and when his payments fail, 
When his foul basket gorges them no more. 
Or their pall'd palates loathe the basket full, 
Are instantly, with wild demoniac rage, 473 

For breaking all the chains of Providence, 
And bursting their confinement, though fast barr'd 
By laws divine and human, guarded strong 
With horrors doubled to defend the pass, 
The blackest Nature or dire guilt can raise, 480 



88 THE COMPLAINT. k. v. 

And moated round with fathomless destruction, 
Sure to receive and whehn them in their fall. 

Such, Britons ! is the cause, to you unknown, 
Or worse, o'erlook'd ; o'erlook'd by magistrates, 
Thus criminals themselves ! I grant the deed 485 

Is madness ; but the madness of the heart. 
And what is that ? our utmost bound of guilt. 
A sensual, unreflecting life is big 
With monstrous births, and Suicide, to crown 
The black infernal brood. The bold to break 490 

Heaven's law supreme, and desperately rush 
Through sacred Nature's murder, on their own, 
Because they never think of death, they die. 
'Tis equally man's duty, glory, gain, 
At once to shun, and meditate his end. 495 

When by the bed of languishment we sit, 
(The seat of Wisdom ! if our choice, not fate) 
Or o'er our dying friends in anguish hang. 
Wipe the cold dew, or stay the sinking head ; 
Number their moments, and in every clock 500 

Start at the voice of an eternity ; 
See the dim lamp of life just feebly lift 
An agonizing beam, at us to gaze, 
Then sink again, and quiver into death, 
That most pathetic herald of our own : 505 

How read we such sad scenes ? As sent to man 
In perfect vengeance ? no ; in pity seiit, 
To melt him down, like wax, and then impress, 
Indelible, Death's image on his heart, 
Bleeding for others, trembling for himself. 510 

We bleed, we tremble, we forget, we smile. 
The mind turns fool before the cheek is dry. 
Our quick-returning folly cancels all. 
As the tide rushing razes what is writ 
In yielding sands, and smooths the letter'd shore. 515 

Lorenzo ! hast thou ever weigh'd a sigh .'' 
Or studied tlie philosophy of tears ? 
(A science yet unlectured in our schools !) 



THE RELAPSE. SO 

Hast thou descended deep into the breast. 
And seen their source r if not, descend with mo, 520 
And trace these briny rivulets to their springs. 
Our funeral tears from diiferent causes rise : 
As if from separate cisterns in the soul, 
Of various kinds they flow. From tender hearts, 
By soft contagion cali'd, some burst at once, 525 

And stream obsequious to the leading eye ; 
Some ask more time, by curious art distill'd. 
Some hearts, in secret hard, unapt to melt, 
Struck by the magic of the public eye. 
Like Moses' smitten rock, gush out amain : 530 

Some v.-ecp to share the fame of the deceased, 
So high in merit, and to them so dear : 
They dwell on praises which they think they share ; 
And thus, without a blush, commend themselves. 
Some mourn, in proof that something they could love ; 
They weep not to relieve their grief, but show. 536 
Some weep in perfect justice to the dead, 
As conscious all their love is in arrear. 
Some mischievously weep, not unapprized. 
Tears sometimes aid the conquest of an eye. 540 

With what address the soft Ephesians draw 
Their sable network o'er entangled hearts ! 
As seen through crystal, how their roses glow, 
While liquid pearl runs trickling down their cheek ! 
Of hers not prouder Egypt's wanton queen, 545 

Carousing gems, herself dissolved in love. 
Some weep at death, abstracted from the dead, 
And celebrate, like Charles, their own decease. 
By kind ccnstruction some are deemed to weep, 
Because a decent veil conceals their joy. 550 

Some weep in earnest, and yet weep in vain, 
As deep in indiscretion as in woe. 
Passion, blind Passion ! impotently pours 
Tears that deserve more tears ; while Reason sleeps, 
Or gazes, like an idiot, unconcern 'd, 55b 

!Nor coniprchcnds the meaning of the storm ; 



flO THE CO.MPLALNT. n. v. 

Knows not il speaks to her, and her alone. 

irrationals all sorrows are beneath, 

That noble gift ! that privilege of man I 

From sorrow's pang, the birth of endless joy : 560 

But these are barren of that birth divine ; 

They weep impetuous as the summer storm, 

And full as short ! the cruel grief soon tamed, 

They make a pastime of the stinglcss tale ; 

Far as the deep-resounding knell they spread GG5 

The dreadful news, and hardly feel it more : 

No grain of wisdom pays them for their woe. 

Half round the globe the tears pump'd up by death 
Are spent in watering vanities of life ; 
In making folly flourish still more fair. 570 

When the sick soul, her wonted stay withdrawn, 
Reclines on earth and sorrows in the dust ; 
Instead of learning there her true support, 
(Though there thrown down her true support to learn,> 
Without Heaven's aid, impatient to be bless'd, 575 
She crawls to the next shrub or bramble vile, 
Though from the stately cedar's arms she fell ; 
With stale forsworn embraces clings anew, 
The stranger weds, and blossoms, as before, 
in all the fruitless fopperies of life, 580 

Presents her weed, well fancied at tlie ball, 
And rallies for the death's head on the ring. 

So wept Aurelia, till the destined youth 
Stcpp'd in with his receipt for making smiles. 
And blanching sables into bridal bloom. 585 

So wept Lorenzo fair Clarissa's fate, 
Who gave that angel-boy on vv'hom he dotes. 
And died to give him, orphan 'd in his birth ! 
Not such, Narcissa ! my distress for thee. 
Ill make an altar of thy sacred tomb, 500 

To sacrifice to Wisdom. — What wast th(Ai ? 
* Young, ga}', and fortunate !' Each yields a theme : 
I'll dwell on each, to shun thought more severe ; 
(Heaven knows T labour with severer still ') 



THE RELAPSE. 01 

I'll dwell on each, and quite exhaust thy death. 595 
A soul without reflection, like a pile 
Without inhabitant, to ruin runs. 

And, first, thy youth : what says it to gray hairs ^ 
Narcissa ! I'm become thy pupil now. — 
Early, bright, transient, chaste, as morning dew, 600 
She sparkled, was exhaled, and went to heaven ! 
Time on this head has snow'd, yet still 'tis borne 
Aloft, nor thiiiks but on another's grave. 
Cover'd with shame I speak it, age severe 
Old worn-out vice sets down for virtue fair ; 605 

With graceless gravity chastising youth, 
That youth chastised surpassing in a fault, 
Father of all, forgetfulness of death ! 
As if, like objects pressing on the sight, 
Death had advanced too near us to be seen ; 610 

Or that life's lean Time ripen'd into right, 
And men might plead prescription from the grave ; 
Deathless, from repetition of reprieve. 
Deatliless ? far from it ! such are dead already ; 
Their hearts are buried, and the world their grave. 615 

Tell me, some god ! my guardian angel ! tell 
What thus infatuates ? what enchantment plants 
The phantom of an age 'twixt us and Death, 
Already at the door ? He knocks ; we hear him, 
And yet we will not hear. What mail defends 620 
Our untouch'd hearts .' what miracle- turns off 
The pointed thought, which from a thousand quivers 
Is daily darted, and is daily shunn'd .' 
We stand, as in a battle, throngs on throngs 
Around us falling, wounded oft oiirselves, 625 

Though bleeding with our wounds, immortal still ! 
vVe see Time's furrows on another's brow. 
And Death intrcnch'd, preparing his assault : 
How few themselves in that just mirror see ! 
Or, seeing, draw their inference as strong ! 630 

There death is certain ; doubtful heie : he mast, 
And soon : we may, within an age, expire. 



i^y THE COMPLALNT. n. v. 

TJiough gray our heads, our thoughts and ai uis are green; 
l^ike damaged clocks, whose hand and bell dissent, 
Foil}'- sings six, while Nature points at twelve. C35 

Absurd longevity I more, more, it cries : 
More life, more wealth, more trash of every kind. 
And wherefore mad for more, when relish fails ? 
Object and appetite must club for joy : 
Shall Folly labour hard to mend the bow, G40 

Baubles, I mean, that strike us from without, 
While Nature is relaxing every string ! 
Ask Tliought for joy ; grow rich, and hoard within. 
Think you the soul, when this life's rattles cease. 
Has nothing of more manly to succeed ? 645 

Contract the taste immortal ; learn e'en now 
To relish what alone subsists hereafter. 
Divine, or none, henceforth your joys for ever ! 
Of ago, the glor}' is to wish to die : 
That wish is praise and promise ; it applauds 650 

Past life, and promises our future bliss. 
"What weakness see not children in their sires ! 
(rrand climacterical absurdities ! 
irray hair'd authority, to faults of youth 
How shocking ! it makes folly thrice a fool ; G55 

And our first childhood miglit our last despise. 
Peace and esteem is all that age can hope : 
Nothing but wisdom gives the first ; the last 
Nothing but the repute of being wise. 
Folly bars both : cur age is quite undone. 660 

What folly can be ranker ? like our shadows, 
Oar wishes lengthen as ouv sun dectines. 
No wish should loiter, then, this side the grave. 
(3ur hearts should leave the world before the knell 
(.'ails for our carcasses to mend the soil. 6G5 

Enough to live hi tempest ; die in port : 
Age should fly concourse, cover in retreat 
Defects of judgment, and the will subdue ; • 
Walk tiioughtful on the silent solemn shore 
Of that vast ocean it must sail so soon, 670 



THE RELAPSE. 'J3 

And put good works on board, and wait the wind 
That shortly blows us into worlds unknown : 
If unconsider'd, too, a dreadful scene ! 

All should be prophets to themselves ; foresee 
Their future fate ; their future fate foretaste : 675 
This art would waste the bitterness of death. 
The thought of death alone the fear destroys ; 
A disaffection to that precious thought 
Is more than midnight darkness on the soul, 
Which sleeps beneath it on a precipice, 680 

Puff'd off by the first blast, and lost for ever. 

Dost ask, Lorenzo, why so warmly press'd, 
By repetition hammer'd on thine ear, 
The thought of death ? That thought is the machine, 
The grand machine ! that heaves us from the dust, 685 
And rears us into men. That thought, plyd home, 
Will soon reduce the ghastly precipice 
O'erhanging hell, will soften the descent, 
And gently slope our passage to the grave. 
How warmly to be wish'd ! what heart of flesh 690 
Would trifle with tremendous ? dare extremes .'' 
Yaw^n o'er the fate of infinite ? what hand, 
Beyond the blackest brand of censure bold 
(To speak a language too well known to thee,) 
Would at a moment give its all to Chance, 695 

And stamp the die for an Eternity ! 

Aid me, Narcissa ! aid me to keep pace 
With Destiny ; and, ere her scissars cut 
My thread of life, to break this tougher thread 
Jf ro.oral death, that ties me to the world. 700 

Sting thou my slumbering Reason, to send forth 
A thought of observation on the foe ; 
To sally, and survey the rapid march 
Of his ten thousand messengers to man, 
Who, Jehulike, behind him turns them all. 705 

All accident apart, by Nature sign'd. 
My warrant is gone out, though dormant yet; 
Perhaps behind one moment lurks my fate I 



94 THE COMPLAINT. ^. >. 

Must ] then forward only look for Death ? 
jBackward 1 turn mine eye, and find him there. 710 
Man is a self-survivor every year. 
Man, like a stream, is in perpetual flow. 
Death's a destroyer of quotidian prey : 
My youth, my noontide, his ; my yesterday : 
The bold invader shares the present hour : 715 

Each moment on the former shuts the grave. 
While.man is growing, life is in decrease, 
And cradles rock us nearer to the tomb, 
Our birth is nothing but cur death begun : 
As tapers waste that instant they take fire. 720 

Shall we then fear lest that should come to pass, 
Which comes to pass each moment of our lives .' 
If fear we must, let that Death turn us pale 
Which murders strength and ardour ; what remains 
Should ratner call on Death, than dread his call. 725 
Ye partners of my fault, and my decline I 
Thoughtless of death, but when your neighbour's knell 
(Rude visitant !) knocks hard at your dull sense, 
And with its thunder scarce obtains your ear ! 
Be death your theme, in every place and hour ; 730 
Nor longer want, ye monumental sires ! 
A brother tomb to tell you — you shall die. 
That death you dread, (so great is Nature's skill !) 
Know you shall court, before you shall enjoy. 

But you are learn'd : in volumes deep you sit, 735 
In wisdom shallow. Pompous ignorance ! 
W^ould you be still more learned than the learn'd ? 
Learn well to know liow much need not be known, 
And what that knowledge which impairs your sense. 
Our needful knowledge, like our needful food, 740 
Unhedged, lies open in Life's common field. 
And bids all welcome to the vital feast. 
You scorn what lies before you in the page 
Of Nature and Experience, moral truth ; 
Of indispensable, eternal fruit ; 745 

Fruit, on which mortals feedings turn to gods ; 



THE RELAPSE. 9o 

And dive in science for distinguish'd nanieSj 

Dishonest fomentation of your pride, 

Sinking in virtue as you rise in fame. 

Your learning, like the lunar beam, affords 750 

Light, but not heat ; it leaves you undevout, 

Frozen at heart, while speculation shines. 

Awake, ye curious indagators ! fond 

Of knowing all, but what avails you known. 

If you would learn Death's character, attend. 755 

All casts of conduct, all degrees of health, 

All dies of fortune, and all dates of age, 

Together shook in his impartial urn, 

Come forth at random ; or, if choice is made, 

The choice is quite sarcastic, and insults 760 

All bold conjecture and fond hopes of man. 

What countless multitudes not only leave, 

But deeply disappoint us, by their deaths ! 

Though great our sorrow, greater our surprise. 

Like other tyrants. Death delights to smite 765 

What, smitten, most proclaims the pride of power 
And arbitrary nod. His joy supreme, 
To bid the wretch survive the fortunate t 
The feeble wrap the' athletic in his shroud ; 
And weeping fathers build their children's tomb : 770 
JNIe thine, Narcissa ! — What, though short thy date ? 
Virtue, not rolling suns, the mind matures. 
That life is long which answers life's great end. 
The time that bears no fruit deserves no name. 
The man of wisdom is the man of years. 775 

In hoary youth Methusalems may die ; 
O how misdated on their flattering tombs ! 

Narcissa's youth has lectured me thus far : 
And can her gaiety give counsel too ? 
That, like the Jews' famed oracle of gems, 780 

Sparkles instruction ; such as throws new light, 
And opens more the character of Death, 
111 known to thee, Lorenzo ! this thy Vaunt ! — 
' Give Death his due, the wretched and the old ; 



96 THE COMPLAINT. >-. v. 

E'en let him sweep his rubbish to the grav^e ; 785 

Let him not violate kind Nature's laws, 
But own man born to live as well as die.' — 
Wretched and old tliou givest him ; young and gay 
He takes ; and plunder is a tyrant's joy. 
What if I prove, * the farthest from the fear 790 

Are often nearest to the stroke of Fate ?' 

All, more than common, menaces an end. 
A blaze betokens brevity of life : 
As if bright embers should emit a flame. 
Glad spirits sparkled from Narcissa's eye, 795 

And made Youth younger, and taught Life to live. 
As Nature's opposites wage endless war, 
For this offence, as treason to the deep 
Inviolable stupor of his reign. 

Where lust and turbulent ambition sleep, 800 

Death took sv^^ift vengeance. As he life detests, 
More life is still more odious ; and, reduced 
By conquest, aggrandizes more his power. 
But wherefore aggrandized i^ — By Heaven's decree 
To plant the soul on her eternal guard, 805 

In awful expectation of our end. 

Thus runs Death's dread commission : ' Strike, but so 
As most alarms the living by the dead.' 
Hence stratagem delights him, and surprise, 
And cruel sport with man's securities. 810 

Not simple conquest, triumph is his aim ; 
And v/here least fear'd, there conquest triumphs most. 
This proves my bold assertion not too bold. 

What are his arts to lay our fears asleep .'' 
Tiberian arts his purposes wrap up 815 

In deep Dissimulation's darkest night. 
Like princes unconfess'd in foreign courts, 
Who travel under cover, Deatli assumes 
The name and look of Life, and dwells among us : 
He takes all shape? that serve his black designs : ^0 
Though master of a wider empire far 
Than that o'er which the Roman Eagle flew, 



THE RELAPSE. 97 

Liko Nero, he's a fiddler, charioteer : 

Or drives his phaeton in female guise ; 

Quite unsuspected, till, the wheel beneath, 825 

His disarray'd oblation he devours. 

He most affects the forms least like himself, 
His slender self: hence burly corpulence 
Is his familiar wear, and sleek disguise. 
Behind the rosy bloom he loves to lurk, 830 

Or ambush in a smile ; or, wanton, dive 
In dimples deep ; Love's eddies, which draw in 
Unwary hearts, and sink them in despa,ir. 
Such on Narcissa's couch he loiter'd long- 
Unknown, and when detected, still was seen 835 
To smile : such peace has Innocence in death ! 

Most happy they, whom least his arts deceive ! 
One eye on Death, and one full fix'd on Heaven, 
Becomes a mortal and immortal man. 
Long on his wiles a piqued and jealous spy, 840 

I've seen, or dream'd I saw, the tyrant dress. 
Lay by his horrors, and put on his smiles. 
Say, Muse ! for thou remember'st, call it back, 
And show Lorenzo the surprising scene ; 
If 'twas a dream, his genius can explain. 845 

'Twas in a circle of the gay I stood : 
Death would have enter'd ; Nature push'd him back : 
Supported by a doctor of renown, 
His point he gain'd ; then artfully dismissed 
The sage ; for Death design'd to be conceal'd : 850 
He gave an old vivacious usurer 
His meagre aspect, and his naked bones, 
In gratitude for plumping up his prey, 
A pamper'd spendthrift, whose fantastic air, 
Well fashion'd figure, and cockaded brow, 855 

He took in change, and underneath the pride 
Of costly linen tuck'd his filthy shroud. 
His crooked bov/ he straightened to a cane, 
And hid his deadly shafts in Myra's eye. 

The dreadful masquerader thus cquipp'd, 860 

9 



fV8 THE COMPXAINT. n.t. 

Outsallies on adventures. Ask you where ? 

Where is he not ? For his peculiar haunts 

Let this suffice ; sure as night follows day, 

Death treads in Pleasure's footsteps round the world, 

When Pleasure treads the paths which Reason shuns. 

When against Reason, Riot shuts the door, 866 

And Gaiety supplies the place of Sense, 

Then, foremost at the banquet and the ball, 

Death leads the dance, or stamps the deadly die, 

Nor ever fails the midnight bowl to crown. 870 

Gaily carousing to his gay compeers, 

Inly he laughs to see them laugh at him, 

As absent far ; and when the revel burns, 

When Fear is banished, and triumphant Thought, 

Calling for all the joys beneath the moon, 875 

Against him turns the key, and bids him sup 

With their progenitors — he drops his mask. 

Frowns out at full : they start, despair, expire. 

Scarce with more sudden terror and surprise, 
From his black mask of nitre, touch'd by fire, 880 

He bursts, expands, roars, blazes, and devours. 
And is not this triumphant trcacher}'', 
And more than simple conquest, in the fiend ? 

And now, Lorenzo, dost thou wrap thy soul 
In soft security, because unknown 885 

Which moment is commision'd^to destroy .'' 
In death's uncertainty thy danger lies. 
Is death uncertain ? therefore thou be fix'd, 
Fix'd as a sentinel, all eye, all ear. 
All expectation of the coming foe. 800 

Rouse, stand in arms, nor lean against thy spea^, 
Lest slumber steal one moment o'er thy soul ^,., 
And Fate surprise thee nodding. Watch, be strong j 
Thus give each day the merit and renown 
Of dying well, though doom"d but once to die ; 895 
Nor let life's period, hidden, (as from most) 
Hide, too, from thee the precious use of life. 

Early, net sudden, was Narcissa's fate : 



THE RELAPSE. 99 

•Soon, not surprising^, Death his visit paid : 
Her thought went forth to meet him on his way, 000 
Nor Gaiety forgot it was to die ; 
Though Fortune, too (our third and final theme.) 
As an accomplice, play'd her gaudy plumes, 
And every glittering gewgaw, on her sight, 
To dazzle and debauch it from its mark. 905 

Death's dreadful advent is the mark of man, 
And every thought that misses it is blind. 
Fortune with \ outh and Gaiety conspired 
To weave a triple wreath of happiness, 010 

(If happiness on earth) to crown her brow : 
And could Death charge through such a shining shield .' 

That shining shield invites the tyrant's spear. 
As if to damp our elevated aims, 
And strongly preach humility to man. 
O how portentous is prosperity ! 915 

How, cometlike, it threatens while it shines '. 
Few years but yield us proof of Death's ambition, 
To cull his victims from the fairest fold. 
And sheath his shafts in all the pride of life. 
When flooded with abundance, purpled o'er 920 

With recent honours, bloom'd with every bliss, 
Set up in ostentation, made the gaze, 
The gaudy centre, of the public eye ; 
When Fortune, thus, has toss'd her child in air, 
Snatch'd from the covert of an humble state, 925 

How often have I seen him dropp'd at once, 
Our morning's envy ! and our evening's sigh '. 
As if her bounties were the signal given, 
The flowery wreath, to mark the sacrifice. 
And call Death's arrows on the destined prey. 930 

Higli Fortune seenfs in cruel league v/ith Fate. 
Ask you for what .'' to give his war on man 
The deeper dread, and more illustrious spoil; 
Thus to keep daring mortals more in awe. 
And burns Lorenzo still for the sublime 935 

Of life ? to hansr his airv nest on high, 



100 THE COMPLAINT. n. v. 

On the slight timber of the topmost bough, 

Rock'd at each breeze, and menacing a fall ? 

Granting grim Death at equal distance there, 

Yet peace begins just where ambition ends. 940 

What makes man wretched .? Happiness denied .-' 

Lorenzo ! no ; 'tis Happiness disdain'd ! 

She comes too meanly dress'd to win our smile, 

And calls herself Content, a homely name ! 

Our flame is transport, and Content our scorn ! 945 

Ambition turns, and shuts the door against her, 

And weds a toil, a tempest, in her stead ; 

A tempest to warm transport near of kin. 

Unknowing what our mortal state admits, 

Life's modest joys we ruin while we raise, 950 

And all our ecstasies are wounds to peace ; 

Peace, the full portion of mankind below. 

And since thy peace is dear, ambitious youth ! 
Of fortune fond ! as thoughtless of thy fate 
As late I drew Death's picture, to stir up 955 

Thy wholesome fears ; now, drawn in contrast, see 
Gay Fortune's thy vain hopes to reprimand. 
See, high in air the sportive goddess hangs. 
Unlocks her casket, spreads her glittering ware. 
And calls the giddy winds to puff abroad 960 

Her random bounties o'er the gaping throng. 
All rush rapacious ; friends o'er trodden friends, 
Sons o'er their fathers, subjects o'er their kings, 
Priests o'er their gods, and lovers o'er the fair, 
(Still more adored) to snatch the golden shower. 965 

Gold glitters most where virtue shines no more ; 
As stars from absent suns have leave to shine. 
O what a precious pack of votaries, 
Unkennel'd from the prisons and the stews. 
Pour in, all opening in their idol's praise ! 970 

All, ardent, eye each waflure of her hand, 
And, wide expanding their voracious jaws, 
Morsel on morsel swallow down unchew'd, 
Untastedj through mad appetite for more ; 



THE RELAPSE. iOI 

Gorged to the throat, yet lean and ravenous still : 975 

Sagacious all to trace the smallest game, 

And bold to seize the greatest. If (bless'd chance !) 

Court-zephyrs sweetly breathe ; they launch, they fly, 

O'er just, o'er sacred, all-forbidden ground, 

Drunk with the burning scent of place or power, 980 

Stanch to the foot of Lucre — till they die. 

Or, if for men you take them, as I mark 
Their manners, thou their various fates survey. 
With aim mismeasured and impetuous speed, 
Some, darting, strike their ardent wish far off, 985 
Through fury to possess it : some succeed, 
But stumble, and let fall the taken prize. 
From some, by sudden blasts, "lis whirl'd awa}', 
And lodged in bosoms that ne"er dream'd of gain. 
To some it sticks so close, that, when torn off, 990 
Torn is the man, and mortal is the wound. 
Some, o'crenamour'd of their bags, run mad ; 
Groan under gold, yet weep for want of bread. 
Together some (unhappy rivals !) seize, 
And rend abundance into povert}'^ : 995 

Loud croaks the raven of the law, and smiles ; 
Smiles, too, the goddess ; but smiles most at those 
(Just victims of exorbitant desire !) 
Who perish at their own request, and, wlielm'd 
Beneath her load of lavish grants, expire. 1000 

Fortune is famous for her numbers slain ; 
The number small whicli liappiness can bear. 
Though various for a while their fates, at last 
One curse involves them all : at Death's approach 
All read their riches backward into loss, 1005 

And mourn in just proportion to their store. 

And Death's approach (if orthodox my song) 
Is hasten'd by the lure of Fortune's smiles. 
And art thou still a glutton of bright gold ? 
And art thou still rapacious of thy ruin .'' 101(^ 

Death loves a shining mark, a signal blow ; 
A blow which, while it executes, alarms, 
9* 



102 THE COMPLAINT. n. v. 

And startles tliousands with a signal fall. 

As when some stately growth of oak, or pine, 

Which nods aloft and proudly spreads her shade, 1015 

The Sun's defiance, and the flock's defence, 

By the strong strokes of labouring hinds subdued 

Loud groans her last ; and rushing from her height, 

In cumbrous ruin thunders to the ground ; 

The conscious forest trembles at the shock, 1020 

And hill, and stream, and distant dale resound. 

These high-aim'd darts of Death, and these alone, 
Should I collect, my quiver would be full ; 
A quiver which, suspended in mid air, 
Or near heaven's archer, in the zodiac, hung 1025 
(So could it be.) should draw tlie public eye, 
The gaze and contemplation of mankind I 
A constellation awful, yet benign. 
To guide the gay through Life's tempestuous wave, 
Nor suffer them to strike the common rock ; 1030 

' From greater danger to grov/ more secure, 
And, wrapp'd in happiness, forget their fate.' 

Lysandcr, happy past the common lot, 
Was warn'd of danger, but too gay to fear 
lie woo'd the fair Aspasia ; she was kind. 1035 

In youth, form, fortune, fame, they both were bless'd : 
All who knew envied ; yet in envy loved : 
Can Fancy form more finish'd happiness .'' 
Fix'd was the nuptial hour. Her stately dome 
Rose on the sounding beach. The glittering spires 
Float in the wave, and break against the shore ; 1041 
So break those glittering shadows, human joys. 
The faithless morning smiled : he takes his' leave 
To reembrace, in ecstasies, at eve : 
The rising storm forbids : the news arrives ; 1045 

Untold she saw it in her servant's eye. 
She felt it seen (her heart was apt to feel,) 
And drown'd, without the furious ocean's aid. 
In suffocating sorrows shares his tomb. 
Now round the sumi-)tuous bridal monument 1050 



THE RELAPSE. J03 

"The guilty billows innocently roar, 
And the rough sailor, passing, drops a tear. 
A tear ? — can tears suffice ? — but not for me 
How vain our efforts I and our arts how vain ! 
The distant train of thought I took, to shun, 1055 

Has thrown me on my fate. — These died together; 
Happy in ruin ! undivorced by death I 
Or ne'er to meet, or ne'er to part, is peace. — 
Narcissa ! Pity bleeds at thought of thee ; 
Yet thou vv^ast only near me, not myself. 1060 

Survive myself.^ — that cures all other woe. 
Narcissa lives ; Philander is forgot. 
O the soft commerce ! — O the tender ties. 
Close twisted with the fibres of the heart ! 
Which broken, break them, and drain off the soul 1065 
Of human joy, and make it pain to live. — 
And is it then to live ? When such friends part, 
'Tis the survivor dies. — My heart I no more. 



•NIGHT VI. 

THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 

IN TWO PARTS. 

CONTAINING THE 
NATURE, PHOOF, AND IMPORTANCE OF IMMORTALITY 



PART L 

WHERE, AMONG OTHER THINGS, 

GLORY AND RICHES ARE PARTICULALY CONSIDERED. 



PREFACE. 

Ekw ages liave been deeper in dispute about relignon than 
lliis. The dispute ai>out religion, and the practice of it, sel- 
dom go together. 'Jlie shorter, therefore, the dispute, the 
belter. I tliink it may be reduced to this single question, ' Is 
man immortal, or is ho not V If he is not, all our disputes ars 
were amusements, or trials of skill. In this case, truth, rea- 
son, religion, which give oar discourses such pomp and solem- 
nity, are (as will be shoAvn) mere empty sounds, without any 
ine?.ning in them: but if man is immortal, it will, behove him 
to be very serious about eternal consequences ; or, in other 
■words, to be truly religious. And this great fundamental 
truth, unestablished, or unawakened in the minds of men, is^ 
1 conceive, the real source and suj^port of all our infidelity, 
liow remote soever the particular objections advanced may 
seem to be from it. 

Sensible appearances affect most men nmch more than ab- 
stract reasonings ; and we daily see bodies drop aromid us, 
but the sold is invisible. The power which inclination has 
o.ver the judgment is greater than can be well conceived by 



PREFACE. 103 

those that have not had aa experience of It ; and of what num- 
bers is it the sad interest that souls should not survive 1 The 
heathen world confessed that they rather hoped, than firmly 
believed, immortality ! and how many heathens have we still 
amongst us ! The Sacred Page assures us, that ' life and im- 
mortality is brought to light by the Gospel ;' but by how many 
is Uie Gospel rejected or overlooked ? From these considera- 
tions, and from my being, accidentally, privy to the sentiments 
of some particular persons, I have been Jong persuaded that 
most, if not all our infidels (whatever name they take, and 
whatever scheme for argument's sake, and to keep themselves 
in countenance, they patronize) are supported in their deplo- 
rable error by some doubt of their immortality, at the bottom: 
and I am satisfied, that men once thoroughly convinced of 
their immortality, are not far from being Christians : for it is 
hard to conceive that a man, fully conscious eternal pain or 
happiness will certainly be his lot, should not earnestly and 
impartially inquire after the surest means of escaping one, and 
securing the other : and of such an earnest and impcirtial in- 
quiry 1 well know the consequence. 

Here, therefore, in proof of this most fundamental truth, 
some plain arguments are offered ; arguments derived from 
principles which infidels admit in common with believers ; ar- 
guments which appear to me altogether irresistible ; and such 
as, I am satisfied, will have great weight with all who give 
themselves the small trouble of looking seriously into their own 
bosoms, and of obsen'ing with any tolerable degree of atten- 
tion, what daily passes round about them in the world. If some 
arguments shall here occur which others have declined, they 
are submitted, with all deference, to better judgments, in this, 
of all points, the most important! for as to the being of a God, 
that is no longer disputed ; but it is undisputed for this reason 
only, viz. because where the least pretence to reason is ad- 
mitted, it must for ever be indisputable : and, of consequence, 
no man can be betrayed into a dispute of that nature by vani- 
ty, which has a principal share in animating our modern com- 
batants against other articles of our belief. 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 



PART THE FIRST. 
TO THE 

RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY PELHAM, 

riBST LORD COMMISSIONER OF THE TREASURY, AND 
CHANCELEOR OF THE EXCHEQUER. 

She* (for I knovv- not yet her name in Heaven) 

Not early, like Narcissa, left the scene, 

Nor sudden, like Philander. What avail .' 

This seeming mitigation but inflames ; 

This fancied medicine heightens the disease. 5 

The longer known, the closer still she grew, 

And gradual parting is a gradual death. 

'Tis the grim tyrant's engine which extorts, 

Ey tardy pressure's still increasing weight, 

From hardest hearts confession of distress. 10 

O the long dark approach, through years of pain, 
Death's gallery ! (might I dare to call it so) 
"With dismal doubt and sable terror hung, 
Sick Hope's pale lamp its only glimmering ray : 
There Fate my melanclioly walk ordain'd, 15 

Forbid self-love itself to flatter there. 
How oft I gazed, prophetically sad ! 
How oft I saw her dead, while yet in smiles ! 
In smiles she sunk her grief to lessen mine : 
She spoke me comfort, and increased my_pain. 20 
Like powerful armies trenching at a town, 
By slow and silent, but resistless sap, 
Jn his pale progress geotly gaining groimd, 
*■ B.efcrrhi<i; to Nijrlit llie I-'ifih. 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 107 

Death urged his deadly siege ; in spite of art, 
Of all the balmy blessings Nature lends 25 

To succour frail humanity. Ye Stars ! 
(Not now first made familiar to my sight) 
And thou, O Moon ! bear witness ; many a night 
He tore the pillow from beneath my head, 
Tied down my sore attention to the shock, 50 

By ceaseless depredations on a life 
Dearer than that he left me. Dreadful post 
Of observation \ darker every hour ! 
Less dread the day that drove me to the brink, 
And pointed at eternity below ; 35 

When my soul shudder'd at futurity ; 
When, on a moment's point, the' important die 
Of life and death spun doubtful, ere it fell, 
And turn'd up life ; my title to more woe. 
But why more v.^oe ? more comfort let it be. 40 

Nothing is dead, but that which wished to die ; 
Nothing is dead, but wretchedness and pain ; 
Nothing is dead, but what encumber'd, gall'd, 
Block'd up the pass, and barr'd from real life. 
Where dwells that wish most ardent of the wise .'' 45 
Too dark the Sun to see it ; highest stars 
Too low to reach it ; Death, great Death alone, 
O'er Stars and Sun triumphant, lands us there 

Nor dreadful our transition, though the mind, 
An artist at creating self-alarms, 50 

Rich in expedients for inquietude. 
Is prone to paint it dreadful. Who can take 
Death's portrait true ? the tyrant never stit. 
Our sketch all random strokes, conjecture all ; 
Close shuts the grave, nor tells one single tale, 55 
Death and his image rising in the brain 
Bear faint resemblance ; never are alike • 
Fear shakes the pencil : Fancy loves excess : 
Dark Ignorance i.s lavish of her shades ; 
And these the formidable picture draw. CCt 

But grant the worst, 'ti.s pai^t : now prospects rise. 



im THE COMPLAINT. 

And drop a veil eternal o'er her tomb. 
Far other views our contemplation claim, 
Views that o'erpay the rigours of our life ; 
Views that suspend our agonies in death. 
Wrapp'd in the thought of immortality, 
Wrapp'd in the single, the triumphant thought ! 
Long life might lapse, age unperceived come on, 
And find the soul unsated with her them^ 
Its Nature, Proofs Importance, fire my song. 
O that my song could emulate my soul ! 
Like her immortal. No ! — the soul disdains 
A mark so mean ; far nobler hope inflames : 
If endless ages can outweigh an hour, 
Let not the laurel, but the palm inspire. 

Thy nature, Immortality I who knows .' 
And yet who knows it not ? it is but life 
In stronger thread of brighter colour spun, 
And spun fur ever ; dipp'd by cruel Fate 
In Stygian dye, how black, how brittle, here ; 
How short our correspondence with the Sun ! 
And while it lasts, inglorious I our best deeds 
How wanting in their weight ! our highest joys 
Small cordials to support us in our pain, 
And give us strength to suffer. But how great 
To mingle interests, converse, amities, 
With all the sons of Reason, scatter'd wide 
Through habitable space, wherever born, 
Howe'er endow'd I to live free citizens 
Of universal Nature ! to lay hold. 
By more than feeble faith, on the Supreme ! 
To call Heaven's rich unfathomable mines 
(Mines which support archangels in their state) 
Our own ! to rise in science as in blisa. 
Initiate in the secrets of the skies ! 
To read Creation ; read its mighty plan 
In the bare bosom of the Deity ! r 

The plan and execution to collate ! 
To see, before each glance of piereing thouglitj 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 109^ 

All cloud, all shadow, blown remote ; and leave 10,0 
No mj'stery — but that of Love Divine, 
Which lifts us on the seraph's flaming wing, 
From Earth's aceldama, this field of blood, 
Of inward anguish, and of outward ill. 
From darkness and from dust, to such a scene '. 105 
Love's element ! true joy's illustrious home ! 
From Earth's sad contrast (now deplored) more fair ! 
V/hat exquisil3 vicissitude of Fate ! 
Bless'd absolution of our blackest hour ! 

Lorenzo ! these are thoughts that make man man. 
The wise illumine, aggrandize the great. Ill 

IIow great, (• hile yet we tread the kindred clod, 
And every moment tear to sink beneath 
The clod we tread, soon trodden by our sons) 
How great, in the wild whirl of Time's pursuits, 115 
To stop, and pause ; involved in high presage, 
Through the long vista of a thousand years, 
To stand contemplating our distant selves, 
As in a magnifying mirror seen, 

Enlarged, ennobled, elevate, divine ! 120 

To prophesy our own futurities ! 
To gaze in thought on what all thought transcends ! 
To talk, with fellow-candidates, of joys 
As far beyond conception as desert, 
Ourselves the' astonished talkers and the tale ! 125 

Lorenzo ! swells thy bosom at the thought .'' 
The swell becomes Ihee : 'tis an honest pride ! 
Revere thyself; — and yet thyself despise. 
His nature no man can o'errate, and none 
Can underrate his merit. Take good heed, 130 

Nor there be modest where thou shouldst be proud ; 
That almost universal error shun. 
How just our pride, when we behold those heights 1 
Not those Ambition paints in air, but those 
Reason points out, and ardent Virtue gains, 135 

And angels emulate. Our pride how just ! 
When mount we ? when these shackles cast ? when qMlt 
10 



i:0 THE COMFLAIKT. n. vj 

This cell of the creation ? this small nest, 

Stuck in a corner of the universe, 

Wrapp'd up in fleecy cloud and fine-spun air ? 14( 

Fine-spun to sense, but gross and feculent 

To souls celestial ; souls ordain'd to breathe 

Ambrosial gales, and drink a purer sky ; 

Greatly triumphant on Time's farther shore, 

Where Virtue reigns, enrich'd with full arrears, 14i; 

While Pomp imperial begs an alms of Peace. 

In empire high, or in proud science deep, 
Ve born of Earth ! on what can you confer, 
With half the dignity, with half the gain, 
The gust, the glow, of lational delight, 15( 

As on this theme, which angels praise and share ? 
Man's fates and favours are a theme in Heaven. 

What wretched repetition cloys us here ! 
What periodic potions for the sick ! 
Distemper'd bodies and distempej'd minds ! 151 

In an eternity what scenes shall strike ! 
Adventures thicken ! novelties surprise ! 
What webs of wonder shall unravel there ! 
What full day pour on all the paths of Heaven, 
And light the' Almighty footsteps in the deep ! 16( 
How shall the blessed day of our discharge 
Unwind, at once, the labyrinths of Fate, 
And straighten its inextricable maze ! 

If inextinguishable thirst in man 
To know ; how rich, how full, our banquet there ! IGi 
There, not the moral world alone unfolds j 
The world material, lately seen in shades, 
And in those shades by fragments only seen. 
And seen those fragments by the labouring eye, 
Unbroken, theuj illustrious and entire, 17( 

Its ample sphere, its universal frame, 
In full duncnsions, swells to the survey. 
And enters, at one glance, the ravish'd sight. 
From some superior point (where, who can tell ? 
Suffice it, 'tis a point, where ^ods reside,) 17^ 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. Ul 

How shall the stranger-man's illumined eye, 

In the vast ocean of unbounded space. 

Behold an infinite of floating worlds 

Divide the crystal waves of ether pure, 

In endless voyage without port ? The least ISO 

Of these disseminated orbs how great ! 

Great as they are, what numbers these surpass, 

Huge as leviathan to that small race, 

Those twinkling multitudes of little life. 

He swallows unperceived ! Stupendous these ? 185 

Yet what are these stupendous to the whole ? 

As particles, as atoms ill perceived ; 

As circulating globules in our veins ; 

So vast the plan. Fecundity divine ! 

Exuberant Source ! perhaps I wrong thee still. 190 

If admiration is a source of joy. 
What transport hence ? yet this the least in Heaven, 
What this to that illustrious robe He wears, 
Who toss'd this mass of wonders from his hand, 
A specimen, an earnest, of his power ? 19:5 

'Tis to that glory, whence all glory flows. 
As the mead's meanest floweret to the Sun, 
Which gave it birth. But what this Sun of Heaven ? 
This bliss supreme of the supremely bless'd .'' 
Death, only death, the question can resolve. 200 

By death cheap bought the' ideas of our joy ; 
The bare ideas ! solid happiness 
So distant from its shadow chased below. 

'And chase we still the phantom through the fire, 
O'er bog, and brake, and precipice, till death ? 205 
And toil we still for sublunary pay ? 
Defy the dangers of the field and flood, 
Or, spiderlike, spin out our precious all. 
Our more than vitals spin (if no regard 
To great futurity,) in curious webs 210 

Of subtle thought and exquisite design, 
(Fine network of the brain !) to catch a fly 1 



J 12 THE COMPLAINT n. n. 

■Th6 momentary buzz of vain renown I 
A name ! a mortal immortality ! 

Or (meaner still) instead of grasping air, 215 

For sordid lucre plungeVe in the mire ? 
Drudge, sweat, through every shame, for every gain : 
For vile contaminating trash ! throw up 
Our hope in Heaven, our dignity with man, 
And deify the dirt matured to gold ? 220 

Ambition, Avarice, the two demons these 
Wliich goad through every slough our human herd, 
Hard-travel 'd from the cradle to the grave. 
How low the wretches stoop ! how steep they climb ! 
These demons burn mankind, but most possess 225 
Lorenzo's bosom, and turn out the skies. 

Is it in time to hide eternity ? 
And why not in an atom on the shore 
To cover ocean ? or a mote, the Sen ? 
Olory and wealth ! have they this blinding power ? 230 
What if to them I prove Lorenzo blind ? 
Would it surprise thee ? be thou then surprised ; 
Thou neither know'st : their nature learn from mc. 

Mark well, as foreign as these subjects seem, 
What close connexion ties them to my theme. 235 
First, v/hat is true ambition ? The pursuit 
Of glory nothing less than man can share. 
Were they as vain as gaudy-minded man. 
As flatulent with fumes of self-applause. 
Their arts and conquests animals might boast, 240 
And claim their laurel-crowns as well as we } 
But not celestial. Here we stand alone, 
As in our form distinct, preeminent : 
If prone in thought, our stature is our shame ; 
And man should blush, his forehead meets the skies. 
The visible and present are for brutes : 246 

A slender portion, and a narrow bound ! 
These Reason, with an energy divine, 
Overleaps, and claims the future and unseen,^ 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 313 

The vast unseen ! the fulure fathomless ! 2.10 

AVhen the great soul bu'^;, >i up to this high point, 

Leaving gross Nature 't>-oediments below, 

Then, and then only, Adam's offspring quits 

The sage and hero of the fields and woods, 

Asserts his rank, and rises into man. 255 

This is ambition ; this is human fire ! 

Can parts or place (two bold pretenders) make 
Lorenzo great, and pluck him from the throng ? 

Genius and art, ambition's boasted wings, 
Our boast but ill deserve : a feeble aid ! 260 

Dcdalian enginery ! If these alone 
Assist our flight, Fame's flight is Glory's fall. 
Heart merit wanting, mount v/e ne'er so high, 
Our height is but the gibbet of our name. 
A celebrated wretch when I behold, 265 

When I behold a genius bright and base, 
Of towering talents and terrestrial aims, 
Metliinks I see, as thrown from her high sphere, 
Tlie glorious fragments of a soul immortal. 
With rubbish mix'd, and glittering in the dust : 270 
Struck at the splendid melancholy sight. 

At once compassion soft and envy rise ■ 

But wherefore envy .'' Talents ahgel-bright. 

If v/anting worth, are shining instruments 

In false Ambition's hand, to fini.'^U faults 275 

Illustrious, and give Infamy renown. 

Great ill is an achievement of great powers. 
Plain sense but rarely leads us far astray. 
Reason the means. Affections choose our end. 
Jileans have no merit, if our end amiss. 280 

If wrong our hearts, our heads are right in vaia. 
What is a Pelham's head to Pelham's heart .'' 
Hearts are proprietors of all applause. 
Right ends and means make wisdom, worldly-wise 
Is but half witted at its highest praise. 285 

Let genius, then, despair to make thee great ; 
Nor flatter station. What is station high .' 

10 ■■'' 



*J14 THE COMFLALN'T. 

"Tis a proud mendicant : it boasts and begs ; 

It begs an alms of homage from the throng, 

And oft the throng denies its ciiarity. 290 

Monarch s and ministers are awful names l 

Whoever wear them challenge our devoir. 

Religion, public Order, both exact 

External homage and a supple knee, 

To beings pompously set up, to serve 295 

The meanest slave : all more is Merit's due, 

Her sacred and inviolable right ; 

Nor ever paid the monarch, but the man. 

Our hearts ne'er bow but to superior worth; 

Nor over fail of their allegiance there. 300 

Fools, indeed, drop the man in their account, 

And vote the mantle into majesty. 

Let the small savage boast his silver fur, 

His royal robe unborrow'd, and unbought, 

His own, descending fairly from his sires ; 305 

Shall man be proud to wear his livery, • 

And souls in ermine scorn a soul without ? 

Can place or lessen us or aggrandize ? 

Pigmies are pigmies still, though perch'd on Alps, 

And pyramids are pyramids in vales. 310 

Each man makes his own stature, builds himself. 

Virtue alone outbuilds the pyramids ; 

Her monuments shall last, when Egypt's fall. 

Of these sure truths dost thou demand the cause !* 
The cause is lodged in immortality. 315 

Hear, and assent. Thy bosom burns for power ; 
What station charm'; thee ? I'll install thee there ; 
Tis thine. And art thou greater than before ? 
Then thou before wast something less than man. 
Has thy new post betray'd thee into pride .'' 320 

That treacherous pride betrays thy dignity ; 
That pride defames humanity, and calls 
The being mean which staffs or strings can raise :! 
That pride, like hooded hawks, in darkness soars, 
From blindness bold, and towering to the skies. dUlt 



THE INFIDKL RECLAIMED. 115 

'Tis born of %norance, which knows not man : 
An angel's second, nor his second long. 
A Nero, quitting his imperial throne, 
And courting glory from the tinkling string, 
But faintly shadows an immortal soul, 330 

With empires self to pride or rapture fired. 
If nobler motives minister no cure, 
E'en vanity forbids thee to be vain. 

High worth is elevated place : 'tis more, 
It makes the post stand candidate for thee ; 335 

Makes more than monarchs, makes an honest man. 
Though no Exchequer it commands, 'tis wealth ; 
And though it wears no ribband, 'tis renown : 
Renown, that would not quit thee though disgraced. 
Nor leave thee pendent on a master's smile. 340 

Other ambition Nature interdicts ) 
Nature proclaims it most absurd in man, 
By pointing at his origin and end ; 
Milk and a s\vuthe, at first, his whole demand ; 
His whole domain, at last, a turf or stone ; 845 

To whom, between, a world may seem too small. 

Souls, truly great, dart forward on the wing 
Of just Ambition, to the grand result. 
The curtain's fall ; theie see the b«skin'd chief 
Unshod behind this momentary scene, 350 

Reduced to his own stature, low or high. 
As vice or Virtue sinks him, or sublimes ; 
And laugh at this fantastic mummery, 
This antic prelude of grotesque events, 
Where dwarfs are often stilted, and betray 355 

A littleness of soul by worlds o'errun, ' 
And nations laid in blood. Dread sacrifice 
To Christian pride ! which had with horror shock'd 
The darkest Pagans, offer'd to their gods. 

O thou Most Christian enemy to peace ! 360 

Again in arms .? again provoking Fate ^ 
That prince, and that alone, is truly great, 
Who draws the sword reluctant, gladly sheaths ; 



116 THE COMPLAINT. n. vi. 

On empire builds what empire far outweighs, 

And makes his throne a scaftold to the skies ! 365 

Why this so rare ? — because, forgot of all 
The day of death, that venerable day 
Which sits as judge ; that day, which shall pronounce 
On all our days, absolve them, or condemn. 
Lorenzo ! never shut thy thought against it : 370 

Be levees ne'er so full, afford it room ; 
And give it audience in the cabinet. 
That friend consulted, flatteries apart, 
Will tell thee fair if thou art great or mem. 

To dote on aught may leave us, or be left, 375 

Is that ambition ? then let flames descend, 
Point to the centre their inverted spires, 
And learn humiliation from a soul 
Which boasts her lineage from celestial fire. 
Yet these are they the world pronounces wise ; 380 
The world, which cancels Nature's right and wrong, 
And casts new wisdom : e'en the grave man lends 
His solemn face to cbuntenance the coin. 
Wisdom for parts is madness for the whole. 
This stamps the paradox, and gives us leave 385 

To call the wisest weak, the richest poor, 
The most ambitious unambitious, mean, 
In triumph mean, and abject on a throne. 
Nothing can make it loss than mad in man 
To put forth all his ardour, all his art, 390 

And give his soul her full unbounded flight, 
But reaching Him who gave her wings to fly. 
When blind Ambition quite mistakes her road. 
And downward pores for that which shines above, 
Substantial hap])iness and true renown ; 395 

Then, like an idiot gazing on the brook. 
We leap at stars, and fasten in the mud ', 
At glory grasp, and sink in infamy. 

Ambition ! powerful source of good and ill ! 
Thy strength in man, like length of wing in birds 400 
When diseno-aged fj:om earth with greater ease, 



THE INTIDEL RECLAIMED. 117 

And swifter flight, transports us to the skies : 

By toys entangled, or in guilt bemired, 

It turns a curse ; it is our chain and scourge, 

In this dark dungeon, where confined we lie, 405 

Close-grated by the sordid bars of sense. 

All prospect of eternity shut out ; ^ 

And, but for execution, ne'er set free. 

With error in ambition justly charged, 
Find we Lorenzo wiser in his wealth .' 410 

What if thy rental I reform, and draw 
An inventory new to set thee right .-* 
Where thy true treasure ? Gold says, '■ Not in me :' 
And, ' Not in me,' the Diamond. Gold is poor ; 
India's insolvent : seek it in thyself; 415 

Seek in thy naked self, and find it there ; 
In being so descended, form'd, endow'd ; 
Sky-born, sky-guided, sky-returning race ! 
Erect, immortal, rational, divine ! 

In senses, which inherit earth and heavens : "*i|20 

Enjoy the various riches Nature yields .' 
Far nobler ! give the riches they enjoy ; 
Give taste to fruits, and harmony to groves ; 
Their radiant beams to gold, and gold's bright sire ; 
Take in, at once, the landscape of the world, 425 

At a small inlet, which a grain might close. 
And half create the wondrous world they see. 
Our senses, as our reason, are divine. 
But for the magic organ's powerful charm, 
Earth were a rude uncolour^d chaos still. 430 

Objects are but the' occasion, ours the exploit j 
Ours is the cloth, the pencil, and the paint, 
Which Natr e's admirable picture draws, 
And beautifies Creation's ample dome. 
Like Milton's Eve, when gazing on the lake, • 435 
Man makes the matchless image man admires. 
Say then, shall man, his thoughts all sent abroad, 
Superior wonders in himself forgot, ~ 
His admiration waste on objects round, 



318 THE COIPLAINT. n.vi. 

"When Heaven makes him the soul of all he sees ? 440 
Absm-d ! not rare ! so great, so mean, is man. 

What wealth in senses such as these ! what wealth 
In fancy, fired to form a fairer scene 
Than sense surveys ! in Memory's firm record, 
Which, should it perish, could this world recal 445 
From the dark shadows of o'erwhelming years ! 
In colours fresh, originally bright, 
Preserve its portrait, and report its fate ! 
What wealth in intellect, that sovereign power I 
Which sense and fancy summons to the bar : 450 

Interrogates, approves, or reprehends ; 
And from the mass those underlings import. 
From their materials sifted and refined, 
And in Truth's balance accurately weigh'd, 
Forms art and sciencei, government and law, 455 

The solid basis, and the beauteous frame, - 
The vitals, and the grace of civil life ! 
And manners (sad exception !) set aside, 
Strikes out, with master-hand, a copy fair 
Of his idea, whose indulgent thought 4C0 

Long, long ere Chaos teem'd, plann'd human bliss. 

What wealth in souls that soar, dive, range around 
Disdaining limit or from place or time ; 
And hear at once, in thought extensive, hear 
The' Almighty Fiat, and the trumpet's sound ' 4C5 
Bold, on Creation's outside walk, and view 
What was, and is, and more than e'er shall be ; 
Commanding with omnipotence of thought, 
Creations new, in Fancy's field to rise ! 
Souls that can grasp whate'er the' Almighty made, 470 
And wander wild through things impossi!>le I 
What wealth in faculties of endless growth, 
In quenchless passions violent to crave, 
In liberty to choose, in power to reach, 
And in duration (how thy riches rise !) 475 

Duration to perpetuate — boundless bliss ! 

Ask you Vv'hat power resides in feeble man, 



THE INFIDEL RECLALMED. llf) 

That bliss to gain ? Is Virtue's then, unknown ? 
Virtue ! our present peace, our future prize. 
Man's unprecarious, natural estate, 480 

Improveable at will, in virtue lies ; 
Its tenure sure, its income is divine. 

High built abundance, heap on heap ! for what "^ 
To breed new wants, and beggar us the more ; 
Then make a richer scramble for the throng ? 485 

Soon as this feeble pulse, which leaps so long, 
Almost by miracle, is tired with play. 
Like rubbish, from disploding engines thrown, 
Our magazines of hoarded trifles fly ; 
Fly diverse ; fly to forei$^ners, to foes ; 490 

New masters court, and call the former fool, 
(How justly !) for dependence on their stay. 
Wide scatter, first, our playthings ! then, our dust. 

Dost court abundance for the sake of peace .'' 
Learn, and lament thy self-defeated scheme. 495. 

Riches enable to be richer still. 
And richer still what mortal can resist ? 
Thus "VY^alth (a cruel task-master !) enjoins 
New toils, succeeding toils, an endless train ! 
And murders Peace, which taught it first to shine. 500 
The poor are half as wretched as the rich. 
Whose proud and painful privilege it is 
At once to bear a double load of woe. 
To feel the stings of envy and of want. 
Outrageous want ! both Indies cannot cure. 505 

A competence is vital to Content ; 
Much wealth is corpulence, if not disease : 
Sick, or encumber'd, is our happiness. 
A competence is all we can enjoy. 
O be content, where Heaven can give no more ', 510 
More, like a flash of water from a lock. 
Quickens our spiriL's movement for an hour, 
But soon its force is spent ; nor rise our joys 
Above our native temper's common stream. 
Hence Disappointment lurks in every prize, 515 

As Bees in flowers, and stingcs us witb success.. 



120 THE COMPLAliN'T. n. tu 

The rich man, who denies it, proudly feigns, 
Nor knows the wise are privy to the lie. 
Much learning shows how little mortals know ; 
Much wealth, how little worldhngs can enjoy : 520 
At best it babies us with endless toys, 
And keeps us children till we drop to dust. 
As monkeys at a mirror stand amazed, • 

They fail to find what they so plainly see : 
Thus men, in shining riches, see the face 525 

Of Happiness, nor know it is a shade ; * 

But gaze, and touch, and peep, and peep again, 
And wish, and wonder it is absent still. 

How few can rescue opulence from want ! 
Who lives to nature rarely can be poor ; 530 

Who lives to fancy never can be rich. 
Poor is the man ir* debt ; .the man of gold, 
In debt to Fortune, trembles at her power : 
The man of reason smiles at her aftd death. 
O what a patrimony this I a being 535 

Of such inherent strength and majesty. 
Not worlds pose jss'd can raise it ; worlds destr^y'd 
Can't injure ; which holds on its glorious course. 
When thine, O Nature ! ends : too bless'd to mourn 
Creation's obsequies. Wh„at treasure this ! 540 

The monarch is a beggar to the man. 

Immortal ! ages pass'd, yet nothing gone ! 
Morn without eve ! a race without a goal I 
Unshortcn'd by progression infinite • 
Futurity for ever future ! life 545 

Beginning still where computation ends ! 
'Tis the description of a deity ! 
'Tis the description of the meanest slave ! 
The meanest slave dares then Lorenzo scorn .' 
The meanest slave thy sovereign, glory shares, 550 
Proud youth ! fastidious of the lower world ! 
Man's lawful pride includes humility ; 
Stoops to the lowest ; is too great to find 
Inferiors ; all immortal ! brothers all ! 
Proprietors eternal of thv love '. 555s 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 151 

Immortal ! what can strike the sense so strong. 
As this the soul ? it thunders to the thought, 
Reason amazes, gratitude o'erwhelms : 
No more we slumber on the brink of Fate ; 
Roused at the sound, the' exulting soul ascends, 5C0 
And breathes her native air, an air that feeds 
Ambitions high, and fans ethereal fires ; 
Quick kindles all that is divine within us, 
Nor leave* one loitering thought beneath the stars. 

Has not Lorenzo's bosom caught the flame ? 565 
Immortal ! were but one immortal, how 
Would others envy ! how would thrones adore I 
Because 'tis common, is the blessing lost .-' 
How this ties up the bounteous hand of Heaven ! 
O vain, vain, vain, all else ! Eternity ! 570 

A glorious and a needful refuge that, 
From vile imprisonment in abject views. 
'Tis Immortality, 'tis that alone, 
Amid life's pains, abasements, emptiness. 
The soul can comfort, elevate, and fill : 575 

That only, and that amply, this performs ; 
Ijifts us above life's pains, her joys above : 
Their terror those, and these their lustre lose ; 
Eternity depending covers all ; 

Eternity depending ail achieves; 580' 

Sets earth at distance ; casts her into shades ; 
Blends her distinctions ; abrogates her powers ; 
The low, the lofty, joyous, and severe. 
Fortune's dread frowns and fascinating smiles, 
Make one promiscuous and neglected heap, 585 

The. man beneath ; if I may call him man. 
Whom Immortality's full force inspires. 
Nothing terrestrial touches his high thought ; 
Suns shine unseen, and thunders roll unheard, 
By minds quite conscious of their high descent, 590 
Their present province, and their future prize ; 
Divi^jely darting upward every wish, 
Yv'arm on the wing, in glorious absence Io«t ! 
11 



V22 THE COMPLAINT. n. vi. 

Doubt you this truth ? why labours your belief ? 
If earth's whole orb, by some due-distant eye 595 

Were seen at once, her towering Alps would sink. 
And level'd Atlas leave an even sphere. 
Thus earth, and all that earthly minds admire, 
Is swallow'd in Eternity's vast round. 
To that stupendous view, when souls awake, 600 

So large of late, so mountainous to man, 
Time's toys subside, and equal all below. 

Enthusiastic this .' — then all are weak 
But rank enthusiasts. To this godlike heiglit 
Some souls have soar'd, or martyrs ne'er had bled : 605 
And all nlay do what has by man been done. 
Who, beaten by these sublunary storms, 
Boundless, interminable joys can weigh 
Unraptured, unexalted, uninflamed .'' 
What slave unbless'd, who from to-morrow's dawn 610 
Expects an empire .'' he forgets his chain. 
And, tlironed in thought, his absent sceptre waves. 
And what a sceptre waits us ! what a throne ! 
Her own immense appointments to compute, 
Or comprehend her high prerogatives, 615 

In this her dark minority, how toils. 
How vainly pants, the human soul divine ! 
Too great the bounty seems for earthly joy : 
What heart but trembles at so strange a bliss .' 

In spite of all the truths the Muse has sung, 620 
Ne'er to be prized enough ! enough revolved ! 
Are there who wrap the world so close about them, 
They see no farther than the cloads, and dance 
On heedless Vanity's fantastic toe, 
Till, stumbling at a straw, in/ their career, 625 

Headlong they plunge, where end both dance and song ? 
Are there, Lorenzo .'' Is it possible .-' 
Are there on earth (let me not call them men) 
Who lodge a soul immortal in tlicir breasts, 
Unconscious as the mountain of its ore, 630 

Or rock of its inestimable gem ? 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 123 

When rocks shall melt, and mountains vanish, these 
Shall know their treasure ; treasure them no more. 

Ar"* there (still more amazing !) who resist 
The rising thought ? who smother, in its birth, 635 
The, glorious truth ? who struggle to be brutes ! 
Who through this bosom-barrier burst their way. 
And, with reversed ambition, strive to sink .'' 
Who labour downwards through the' opposing powers 
Of instinct, reason, and the world against them, 640 
To dismal hopes, and shelter in the shock 
Of endless night ? night darker than the grave's ? 
Who fight the proofs of Immortality .'' 
With horrid zeal, and execrable arts, 
Work all their engines, level their black fires, 645 
To blot from man this attribute divine, 
(Than vital blood far dearer to the wise) 
Blasphemers and rank atheists to themselves ? 

To contradict them, see all Nature rise ! 
What object, what event, the moon beneath, 650 

But argues, or endears, an after-scene ? 
To reason proves, or weds it to desire ? 
I All things proclaim it needful ; some advance 
' One precious step beyond, and prove it sure. 

A thousand arguments swarm round my pen, 655 

From Heaven, and earth, and man. Indulge a few, 

By Nature, as her common habit, worn ; 

So pressing Providence, a truth to teach, 
\ Which truth untaught, all other truths were vain. 
[ Thou ! whose all-providential eye surveys, 660 

[ Whose hand directs, whose spirit fills and warms 
\ Creation, and holds empire far beyond ' 
i Eternity 's Inhabitant august ! 
i Of two eternities, amazing Lord ! 

One pass'd, ere man's or angel's had begun ; 665 

Aid ! while I rescue from the foe's assault . 

Thy glorious immortality in man ; 

A theme for ever, and for all, of weight, 

Of moment, infinite ! but rclisli'd most 

By those who love thee most, v/ho most adore. 670 



134 THE COMPLAINT. n. vr. 

Nature, thy daughter, ever-changing birth 
Of thee the great Immutable, to man 
Speaks wisdom ; is his oracle supreme ; * 

And he who most consults her is most wise. 
Lorenzo ! to this heavenly Delphos haste, C75 

And come back all immortal, all divine. 
Look Nature -through, 'tis revolution all ; 
All change, no death : day follows night, and night 
The dying day : stars rise, and set, and rise : 
Earth takes the' example. See, the Summer gay, CSO 
With her green chaplet and aVnbrosial flowers, 
Droops into pallid Autumn : Winter gray, 
Horrid with frost, and turbulent with storm, 
Blows Autumn and his golden fruits away. 
Then melts into the Spring : soft Spring, with breath 
Favonian, from warm chambers of the south, C8(> 

Kecals the first. All, to reflourish, fades: 
As in a wheel, all sinks to reascend : 
Emblems of man, who passes, not expires. 

With this minute distinction, emblems just, C90 
Nature revolves, but man advances ; both 
Eternal : that a circle, this a line : 
That gravitates, this soars. The' aspiring so\;l, 
Ardent and tremulous, like flame, ascends, 
Zeal and humility her wings, to Heaven. 695 

The world of matter, with its various forms, 
All dies into new life. Life born from Death 
Rolls the vast mass, and shall for ever roll. 
No single atom, once in being, lost. 
With change of counsel charges the Most High. 700 

What hence infers Lorenzo ? Can it be ? 
Matter immortal ? and shall spirit die .' 
Above the nobler shall less noble rise ? 
Shall man alone, for whom all else revives, 
No resurrection know ? shall man alone, 705. 

Imperial man ! be sown in barren ground, 
Less privileged than grain on w^hich he feeds f 
Is man, in whom alone is power to prize 
The bliss of being, or. with previous pain. 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 325 

Deplore its peri«)d, by the spleen of Fate, , 710 

Severely doom'd Deatli's single unredeem'd ? 

If Nature's revolution speaks aloud 
In lior gradation, h«ar her louder still. 
Look Nature through, 'tis neat gradation all. 
By what minute degrees her scale ascends ! 715 

Each middle nature jcin"d at each extreme ; 
To that above it join'd, to that beneath. 
Parts into parts reciprocally shot, 
Abhor divorce. What love of union reigns ! 
Here dormant matter waits a call to life ; 720 

Half-life, half-death, join there : here life and sense, 
There sense ^rom reason steals a glimmering ray ; 
Jloason shines out in man. But how preserved 
The chain unbroken upward, to the realms 
Of incorporeal Irfe -^ thofse realms of bliss, 725 

Where Death hath no dominion .'' Grant a make 
Half-mortal, half immortal ; earthy part, 
And part ethereal : grant the soul of man 
Eternal, or in man the series ends. 
Wide yavv-ns the gap ; connexion is no more ; 730 

Check'd Reason halts ; her next step wants support j 
Striving to climb, she tumbles from her scheme, 
A scheme Analogy pronounced so true ; 
Analogy ! man's surest guide below. 

Thus far all Nature calls on thy belief 3 735 

And vv'ill Lorenzo, careless of the call, 
False attestation on all Nature charge, 
Rather than violate his league with Death ? 
Renounce his reason, rather than renounce 
The dust beloved, and run the risk of Heaven .' 740 
O what indignity to deathless souls ! 
What treason to the majesty of man ! 
Of man immortal ! hear the lofty style : 
' If so^decreed, the' Alnfiighty Will be done. 
Let earth dissolve, yon ponderous orbs descend, 745 
And grind us into dust. The soul is safe ; 
The man emerges ; mounts above the wreck, 
11 * 



X'Ki THE CO^iPLALNT. n. vr. 

As towering ilamc from Nature's funcflral pyre : 
0"er devastation, as a gainer, smiles ] 
His charter his inviolable rights, 750 

Well pleased to learn from Thunder's impotence, 
Death's pointless darts, and Hell's defeated storms,' 

But these chimeras touch not thee, Lorenzo ! 
The glories of the world thy sevenfold shield. 
Other ambition than of crowns in air, 755 

And superlunary felicities. 
Thy bosom warms. I'll cOol it, if I can ; 
And turn those glories that enchant, agamst thee. 
What ties thee to this life proclaims tlie ne.vt. 
If wise, the cause tliat wounds thee is th}^ cure. 7(!0 

Come, my Ambitious ! let us mount together, 
(To mount Lorcny.o never can refuse !) 
And from the clouds;, where Pride delights to dwell, 
Look down on earth. — What scest thou ? w'ondrous 

things ! 
Terrestrial wonders, tliat eclipse tlie skies. 705^ 

What lengths of labour'd lands ; what loaded seas I 
Loaded by man for pleasure, wealth, or war ! 
Seas, winds, and pla;iets. into service brought, 
His art acknowledge, and promote his ends. 
Nor can the' eternal rocks his will withstand : 770 
VVJiat levcl'd mountains ! and what lifted vales ! 
O'er vales and mountains sumptuous cities swell, 
And gild our landscape with their glittering spires. 
Some mid the wondering waves majestic rise, 
And Neptune holds a mirror to their charms. 775 

Far greater still ! (what cannot mortal might .'^) 
See, wide dojninions ravish'd from the deep ! 
The narrow'd deep with indignation foams. 
Or southward turn, to delicate and grand, 
The finer arts there ripen in the Sun. 7S0 

How the tall temples, as to meet their gods, 
Ascend the skies ! the proud triumphal arch 
Shows us half heaven beneath its ample bend. 
High throusrh mid air^ hero streams arc taught to flow, 



THE INFIDEL RECIvAIMED. V27 

Whole rivers tliere, laid by in basons, sleep. 785 

Here plains turn oceans ; there vast oceans join, 
Through kingdoms channel'd deep from shore to shore, 
And changed Creation takes its face from man. 
Beats thy brave breast for formidable scenes, 
Where fame and empire wait upon the sword? 790 
See fields in blood ; hear naval thunders pise ; 
Britannia's voice 1 that awes the world to peace. 
How yon enormous mole projecting breaks 
The mid-sea, furious waves ! their roar amidst 
Outspeaks the Deity, and says, * O Main ! 795 

Thus far, nor farther ; new restraints obey.' 
Earth's discmbowerd 1 measured are the skies I 
Stars are detected in their deep recess ! 
Creation widens ! vanquish 'd Nature yields ! 
Har secrets are extorted ! Art prevails ! 800 

What monument of genius, spirit, power ! 

And now, Lorenzo ! raptured at this scene, 
Whose glories render heaven superfluous ! say, 
Whose footsteps these i* — Imm.ortals have been here 
Could less than souls immortal this liave done .'' 805) 
Earth's cover 'd o'er with proofs of souls immortal, 
And proofs of Lnmortality forgot. 

To flatter thy grand foible, I confess 
These are Ambition's works ; and these are great : 
But this, the least immortal souls can do, 810 

Transcends tliem all. — But what can these transcend ? 
Dost ask me what ? — one sigh for the distress'd. 
What then for Lnfidels .' a deeper sigl:^ 
'Tis moral grandeur makes tlie mighty man ! 
How little they, v/lio think aught great below ! 815 
All our ambitions Death defeats but one, 
And tliat it crowns. — Here cease we ; but ere long, 
More powerful proof shall take the field against thee, 
Strono'er than death, and smilin.<i at the tomb. v 



NIGHT VJI. 

PART II. 
THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 

CONTAINING THE 

NATURE, PROOF, AND IMPORTANCE OF IMMORTALITY 



PREFACE. 

As we are at war with the power, it were well if we were 
at war with the manners of France. A land of levity is a land 
of guilt. A serious mind is the native soil of every virtue, 
and the sing-Je character that does true honour to mankind. 
The soul's immortality has been the favourite theme vith the 
serious of all ages. Nor is it strange : it is a subject by fur 
llie most interesting and important that can enter the mind of 
man. Of highest moment this subject alwaj's was, and al- 
^vays will be ; yet this its highest moment seems to admit of 
increase at this day ; a sort of occasional importance is super- 
added to the natural weight of it, if that opinion which is ad- 
vanced in the Preface to the preceding Night be just. It is 
there supposed that all our Infidels (whatever scheme, for 
argument's sake, and to keep Ihcinselvcs in countenance, they 
]>atronize) are betrayed into their deplorable error by some 
tloubt of their immortality at the bottom : and the more I con- 
sider this point, the more I am persuaded of the truth of that 
opinion. • Though the distrust of a futurity is a strange error, 
yet it 's an error into ^^■hich bad men may naturally be dis- 
tressed ; for it is impossible to bid defiance to final rain, with- 
out some refuge in imagination, some presumption of escape. 
And what presumption is there ? there are but two in Nature ; 
but two within the compass of human thought ; and these are, 
— That either God will not or cannot punish. Considering 
the divine attributes, the first is too gross to be digested by our 
strongest wishes ; and, since Omnipotence is as much a divine 
attribute as Holiness, that God cannot punish is as absurd a 
supposition as the former. God certainly can punish, as long 
as wicked inen exist. In nonexistence, therefore, is their only 
lefuge ; and, consequently, nonexistence is their strongest 
wish ; and strong wishes have a strange influence on our 
opinions ; they bias the judg?.ient in a manner almost incredi- 
ble. And since, on this member of their alternative there are 
some very small apnearanres in their favour, and none at all 



TREFACE. 129 

on the other, they cateh at this reed, the}' lay hold on this 
chimera, to save themselves from the shock and hoiTor of an 
immediate and absolute despair. 

On reviewing my subject, by the light which this argument, 
and others of like tendency, threw upon it, I was more inclined 
than ever to pursue it, as it appeared to ms to strike directly 
at the main root of all our infidelity. In the following pages 
it is, accordingly, pursued at large, and some arguments for im- 
mortality, new at least to me, are ventured on in tliem. There, 
also, the writer has made an attempt to set the gross absurdi- 
ties and horrors of annihilation in a fuller and more aflecting 
view than is (I think) to be met with elsewhere. 

The gentlemen for whose sake this attempt was chiefly 
made, profes-; great admiration for the wisdom of heatheni 
antiquity : what pity it is they are not sincere ! If tliey were 
sincere, how would it mortify them to consider v*-ith what con- 
tempt and abhorrence their ndtions would have been received 
by those whoiji they so much admire. What degree of con- 
tempt and abhorrence would fall to their share, may be con- 
jectured by the following matter of fact (in my opinion,) 
extremely memorable. Of all their heathen worthies, Socrates 
(it is well known) was the most guarded, dispassionate, and 
composed ; yet this great master of temper was angry, and 
angry at his last hour ; and angry with his friend ; and angry 
for v.'hat deserved acknowledgment ; angry for a right and 
tender instance o^ true friendship towards him. Is not this 
.surprising ? what could be the cause ? — The cause was for 
liis honour : It was a ivuly noble, though, perhaps, a too punc- 
tilious regard for Immortality : for his friend asking him, willi 
such an affectionate concern as became a friend, ' Where he 
should deposit his remains ?' it Vvas resented by Socratesi, as 
implying a dishonourable supposition, that he could be so mean 
as to have regard for any thing, even in himself, that was not 
Snimortal. 

This fact, well considered, would make our infidels with- 
draw their admiration fi'om S'^crates, or make them endea- 
>our, by their imitation of his illustrious example, to share his 
glory ; and consequently, it would incline tliem to peruse the 
following with candour and impartiality : wiiich is all I desire • 
and that, for their sak^s : for I am persuaded that an unpreju- 
diced infidel snust^ necessarily, receive some advantageous 
impressions from tlsern. 



CONTENTS 

OF THE SEVENTH NIGHT. 



In the »*rui Night, arguments were drawn from Nature in proof 
of Imifc. lulity : here, others are drawn from Man ; from his dis- 
content , liom his passions and powers ; from the gradual growtli 
ofreasoi', from his fear of death; from the nature of hope, and 
of virtue; from knowledge and love, as being the most essential 
propertiesof the soul; from the order of creation; from the na- 
ture of ambition, avarice, pleasure. — A digression on the gran- 
deur of the passions. — Immortality alone renders our present 
state intelligible. — An objection from the Stoics' disbelief of Im- 
mortality answerfed. — Endless questions unrcsolvable, but on 
eupposition of our immortality. — The natural, most melancholy, 
and pathetic complaint of a worthy man, under the persuasion 
of no futurity. — The gross absurdities and horrors of annihilation 
urged home on Lorenzo.— The soul's vast importance; from 
whence it arises, &c. — Tlie difficulty of being an Infidel ; the in- 
famy; the cause; and the character of an infidel state. — What 
true free-thinking is ; the necessary punishment of the false, — 
Man's ruin is from himself— An Infidel accuses himself of guilt 
and hypocrisy, and that of the worst sort ; his obligations to 
Christians : what danger he incurs by virtue ; vice recommended 
lo him ; his high pretences to virtue and benevolence exploded 
— The conclusion, on the nature of faith, reason, and hope ; witli 
an apology for this attempt. 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 



PART THE SECOJTD- 



Heaten gives the needful, but neglected call. 

What day, what hour, but knocks at human hearts, 

To wake the soul to sense of future scenes ? 

Deaths stand, like Mercuries, in every way, 

And kindly point us to our journey's end. 5 

Pope, who couldst make immortals ! art thou dead ? 

I give thee joy ; nor will I take my leave, 

So soon to follow. Man but dives in death, 

Dives from the sun, in fairer day to rise ; 

The grave, his subterranean road to bliss. 10 

Yes, infinite indulgence plann'd it so ; 

Through various parts our glorious story runs ; 

Time gives the preface, endless age unrolls 

The volume (ne'er unroll'd) of human fate. 

This, earth and skies* already have proclaim'd. 15 
The world's a prophecy of worlds to come, 
And who, what God foretels (who speaks in things 
Still louder than in words) shall dare deny ? 
If Nature's arguments appear too weak, 
Turn a new leaf, and stronger read in man. 50 

If man sleeps on, untaught by' what he sees, 
Can he prove infidel to what he feels ? 
He, whose blind thought futurity denies, 
Unconscious bears, Bellerophon ! like thee, 
His own indictment ; he condemns himself: 25 

Who reads his bosom, reads immortal life ; 
Or Nature there, imposing on her sons, 
Has written fabies : man was made a lie. 
* See Nisfht the Sixth. 



132 THE COMPLAINT. n. >ii. 

Why discontent for ever harbour'd there ? 
Incurable consumption of our peace ! 30 

Resolve me why the cottager and king, 
He whom sea-sever'd realms obey, and ho 
Who steals his whole dominion from the waste, 
Repelling winter blasts with mud and straw, 
Disquieted alike, draw sigh for sigh, 35 

In fate so distant, in complaint so near ? 

Is it that things terrestrial can't content ? 
Deep in rich pasture, will thy flocks complain ? 
Not so ; but to their master is denied 
To share their sweet serene. Man, ill at case 40 

In this, not his own place, this foreign field, 
Where Nature fodders him with other food 
Than was ordain'd his cravings to suffice, 
Poor in abundance, famish'd at a feast. 
Sighs on for something more, when most enjoy 'd. 45 
Is Heaven then kinder to thy flocks than thee .'' 
Not sc ; thy pasture richer, but remote ; 
In part remote ; for that remoter part 
Man bleats from instinct, though, perhaps, debauch'd 
By sense, his reason sleeps, nor dreams the cause. 50 
The cause how obvious, when his reason wakes ! 
His grief is but his grandeur in disguise, 
And- discontent is immortality ! 

Shall sons of Ether, shall the blood of Heaven, 
Set up their hopes on earth, and stable here, 55 

With brutal acquiescence in tlie mire ? 
Lorenzo ! no ; they shall be nobly pain'd : 
The glorious foreigners, distress'd, shall sigh 
On thrones, and thou congratulate the sigh. 
Man's misery declares him born for bliss ; GO 

His anxious heart asserts the truth I sing, 
And gives the sceptic in his head— the lie. 

Our heads, our hearts, our passions, and our powers, 
Speak the same language ; call us to the skies : 
Unripen'd these, in this inclement clime, 65 

Scarce rise above conjecture and mistake ; 



THE IJSFIDEL RECLAIMED. 133 

And for this land of trifles those too strong 

Tumultuous rise, and tempest human life. 

What prize on earth can pay us for the storm ? 

Meet objects for our passions Heaven ordain'd, 70 

Objects that challenge all their fire, and leave 

No fault but in defect. Bless'd Heaven ! avert 

A bounded ardour for unbounded bliss ! 

O for a bliss unbounded ! far beneath 

A soul immortal is a mortal joy. '^ 75 

Nor are our powers to perish immature ; 

But after feeble effort here, beneath 

A brighter sun, and in a nobler soil, 

Transplanted from this sublunary bed, 

Shall flourish fair, and put forth all their bloom. SO 

Reason progressive, instinct is complete ; 
Swift Instinct leaps ; slow Reason feebly climbs 
Brutes soon their zenith reach ; their little all 
Flows in at once ; in ages they no more 
Could know, or do, or covet, or enjoy. 85 

Were man to live coeval with the Sun, 
The patriarch-pupil would be learning still, 
Yet, dying, leave his lesson half-unlearn'd. 
Men perish in advance, as if the Sun 
Should set ere noon, in eastern oceans drown'd ; 00 
If fit, with dim, illustrious to compare. 
The Sun's meridian with the soul of man. 
To man why, stepdame Nature ! so severe .'* 
Why thrown aside thy masterpiece half-wrought, 
While meaner efforts thy last hand enjoy .'' 95 

Or if, abortively, poor man must die, 
Nor reach what reach he might, why die in dread .'' 
Why cursed with foresight ? wise to misery ? 
Why of his proud prerogative the prey .'' 
Why less preeminent in rank than pain ? 100 

His immortality alone can tell ; 
Full ample fund to balance all amiss, 
A«d turn the scale in favour of the just I 

His imniortalitv ^alone can solve 
"l2 



334 THE COMPLAINT n. vii. 

That flarkest of enigmas, human hope; 105 

Of all the darkest, if at death we die. 

Hope, eager Hope, the' assassin of our joy, 

All present blessings treading under foot, 

Is scarce a milder tyrant than Despair. 

With no past toils content, still planning new, 110 

Hope turns us o'er to Death alone for ease. 

Possession, why more tasteless than pursuit .'' 

Why is a wish far dearer than a crown .'' 

That wish accomplish'd, why the grave of bliss.' — 

Because in the great future buried deep, 115 

Beyond our plans of empire and renown, 

Lies all that ri»an with ardour should pursue ; 

And He who made him bent him co the right. 

Man's heart the' Almighty to the future sets, 
By secret and inviolable springs ; 120 

And makes his hope his sublunary joy. 
Man's heart eats all things, and is hungry still ; 
* More, more !' the glutton cries : for something new 
So rages appetite ; if man can't mount, 
He will descend. He starves on the possess'd ; 125 
Hence, the world's master, from Ambition's spire, 
In Caprea plunged, and dived beneath the brute. 
In that rank sty why wallow'd Empire's son 
Supreme .'' — Because he could no higher fly : 
His riot was Ambition in despair. 130 

Old Rome consulted birds : Lorenzo ! thou 
With more success the flight of Hope survey, 
Of restless Hope for ever on the wing. 
High perch'd o'er every thought that falcon sits, 
To fly at all that rises in her sight : 135 

And never stooping, but to mount again 
Next moment, she betrays her aim's mistake, 
And owns her quarry lodged beyond the grave 

There should it fail us, (it must fail us there-^ 
If being fails) more mournful riddles rise, J'lO 

And virtue vies with hope in mystery. 
Why virtue ? where its praise., its being; fled ? 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 135 

Virtue is true self-interest pursued ; 
What true self-interest of quite mortal maft ? 
To close with all that makes him happy here. 145 

If vice (as sometimes) is our friend on earth, 
Then vice is virtue ; 'tis our sovereign good. 
In self-applause is virtue's golden prize ? 
No self applause attends it on thy scheme 
Whence self-applause ? from conscience of the right ; 
And what is right, but means of happiness .' 151 

No means of happiness when virtue yields ; 
That basis failing falls the building too, 
And lays in ruin every virtuous joy. 

The rigid guardian of a blameless heart, 155 

So long revered, so long reputed wise, 
Is weak, with rank knight-errantries o'errun. 
Why beats thy bosom with illustrious dreams 
Of self-exposure, laudable and great.'' 
Of gallant enterprise, and glorious death .'' 160 

Die for thy country ? — thou romantic fool ! 
Seize, seize the plank thyself, and let her sink. 
Thy country ! what to thee .'' — the Godhead, what ! 
(I speak with awe !) though He should bid thee bleed ? 
If, with thy blood, thy final hope is spilt .' 165 

Nor can Omnipotence reward the blow : 
Be deaf; preserve thy being; disobey. 

Nor is it disobedience. Know, Lorenzo ! 
Whate'er the' Almighty's subsequent command, 
His first command is this : — ^ Man, love thyself.' 170 
In this alone free agents are not free. 
Existence is the basis, bliss the prize ; 
If virtue costs existence, 'tis a crime ; 
Bold violation of our law supreme ; , 
Black suicide ; though nations, which consult 175 

Their gain at thy expense, resound applause. 

Since Virtue's recompense is doubtful here, 
If man dies wholly ; well may w^e demand 
Why is man suffer'd to be good, in vain ? 
Why to be good in vain, is man enjoln'd ? 180 



136 THE COMPLAINT. n. viu 

Why to be good in vain is man betray'd ? 

Betray'd by traitors lodged in his own breast, 

By sweet complacenojes from virtue felt ? 

Why whispers Nature lies on Virtue's part ? 

Or if blind Instinct (which assumes the name 185 

Of sacred Conscience) plays the fool in man, 

Why Reason made accomplice in the cheat ? 

Why are the wisest loudest in her praise ? 

Can man by Reason's beam be led astray ? 

Or, at his peril, imitate his God ? 190 

Since virtue sometimes ruins us on earth, 

Or both arc true, or man survives the grave. 

Or man survives the grave ; or own, Lorenzo, 
Thy boast supreme a wild absurdity. 
Dauntless thy spirit, cowards are thy scorn : 195 

Grant man immortal, and thy scorn is just. 
The mail immortal, rationally brave. 
Dares rush on death — because he cannot die ! 
But if man loses all when life is lost, 
He lives a coward, or a fool expires. 200 

A daring Infidel (and such there are. 
From pride, example, lucre, rage, revenge, 
Or pure heroical defect of thought) 
Of all earth's madmen most deserves a chain. 
' When to the grave we follow the renown'd 205 

For valour, virtue, science, all we love, 
And all we praise ; for worth, whose noontide beam, 
Enabling us to think iil higher style. 
Mends our ideas of ethereal powers^ ; 
Dream wc, that lustre of the moral world 210 

Goes out in stench, and rottenness the close ? 
Why Vv'as he wise to know, and warm to praise, 
And strenuous to transcribe, in human life, 
The Mind Almighty ? Could it be that Fate, 
Just when the lineaments began to shine, 215 

And dawn the Deity, should snatch the drauglit. 
With night eternal blot it out, and give 
The skies alarm, lest angels too might die .'' 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 137 

If human souls why not angelic too, 
Extinguish'd ; and a solitary God, 220 

O'er ghastly ruin frowning from his throne ? 
Shall we this moment gaze on God in man, 
The next lose man for ever in the dust ? 
From dust we disengage, or man mistakes ; 
And there, where least his judgment fears a flaw. 225 
Wisdom and worth how boldly he commends ! 
Wisdom and worth are sacred names ; revered 
Where not embraced ; applauded ! deified ! 
Why not compassion'd too ? if spirits die, 
Both are calamities, inflicted both 230 

To make us but more wretched. Wisdom's e3'e 
Acute, for what .'' to spy more miseries ; 
And worth, so recompensed, new points their stings. 
Or man surmounts the grave, or gain is loss, 
And worth exalted humbles us the more. 235 

Thou wilt not patronize a scheme that makes 
Weakness and vicie the refuge of mankind. 

* Has virtue, then, no joys ?' — Yes, joys dear bought. 
Talk ne'er so long in this imperfect state, 
Virtue and vice are at eternal war. 240 

Virtue's a combat ; and who fights for nought, 
Or for precarious, or for small reward .-* 
Who Virtue's self-reward so loud resound, 
Would take degrees angelic here below, 
And virtue, winle they compliment, betray, 245 

By feeble motives and unfaithful guards. 
The crown, the' unfading crown, her soul inspires ; 
'Tis that and that alone can countervail 
The body's treacheries and the world's assaults. 
On earth's po'or pay our famish'd virtue dies ; 250 

Truth incontestable ! in spite of all 
A Bayle has preach'd, or a Voltaire believed. 

In man the more we dive, the more we see 
Heaven's signet stamping an immortal make. 
Dive to the bottom of his soul, the base 255 

Sustaining all, what find we ? knowledge, loye ! 
12^ 



i38 THE COMPLAINT. n. vu. 

As light and heat, essential to the Sun, 

These to the soul : and why, if souls expire ? 

How little lovely here ? how little known ? 

Small knowledge we dig up with endless toil, 260 

And love unfeign'd may purchase perfect hate. 

Why starved, on earth, our angel appetites ; 

While brutal are indulged their fulsome illl ? 

Were then capacities divine conferr'd, 

As a mock diadem, in savage sport, SCu 

Rank insult of our pompous poverty, 

Which reaps but pain from seeming claims so fair ? 

In future age lies no redress ? and shuts 

Eternity the door on our complaint ? 

If so, for what strange ends were mortals made ! 270 

The worst to wallow, and the best to weep ; 

The man who merits most must most coiiiplain : 

Can we conceive a disregard in Heaven, 

What the worst perpetrate, or best endure ? 

This cannot be. To love and know, in man 275 
Is boundless appetite and boundless power. 
And these demonstrate boundless objects too. 
Objects, powers, appetites. Heaven suits in all, 
Nor, Nature through, e'er violates this sweet 
Eternal concord on her tuneful string. 280 

Is man the sole exception from her laws ? 
Eternity struck off from human hope, 
(I speak with truth, but veneration too) 
Man is a monster, the reproach of Heaven, 
A stain, a dark impenetrable cloud 235 

On Nature's beauteous aspect, and deforms, 
(Amazing blot !) deforms her with her lord. 
If such is man's allotment, what is HeaVen .'' 
Or own the soul immortal, or blaspheme. 
■ Or own the soul immortal,- or invert 290 

All order. Go, mock majesty ! go, man ! 
And bow to thy superiors of the stall, 
Through every scene of sense superior far 
Thev arraze the turf untill'd, thev drink the stream 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 139 

Unbrcw'd, and e-vrer full, and unimbitter'd 295 

With doubts, fears, fruitless hopes, regrets, despairs, 

Mankind's peculiar ! Reason's precious dower ! 

No foreign clime they ransack for their robes, 

Nor brothers cite to the litigious bar ; 

Their good is good entire, unmix'd, unmarr'd ; 300 

They find a pcradise in every field, 

On boughs forbidden where no curses hang : 

Their ill no more than strikes the sense, unstretch'd 

By previous dread, or murmur in the rear : 

When the worst comes, it comes unfear'd ; one stroke 

Begins and ends their woe : they die but once ; 306 

Bless'd, incommunicable privilege ! for which 

Proud man, who rules the globe and reads the stars, 

Philosopher or hero, sighs in vain. 

Account for this prerogative in brutes. 310 

No day, no glimpse of day, to solve the knot, 
But what beams on it from Eternity. 
O sole and sweet solution ! that unties 
The difficult, and softens the severe ; 
The cloud on Nature's beauteous face dispels ; 315 
Restores bright order ; casts the brute beneath, 
And reinthrones us in supremacy 
Of joy, e'en here. Admit immortal life, 
And virtue is knight-errantry no more ; 
Each virtue brings in hand a golden dower, 320 

Far richer in reversion : Hope exults. 
And though much bitter in our cup is thrown, 
Predominates, and gives the taste of Heaven. 
O wherefore is the Deity so kind .'' 
Astonishing beyond astonishment ! 325 

Heaven our reward — for heaven enjoy'd below. 

Still unsubdued thy stubborn heart ? — for there * 
The traitor lurks who doubts the truth I sing : 
Reason is guiltless ; Will alone rebels. — 
What, in that stubborn heart, if I should find 330 

New, unexpected witnesses against thee .'' • 
Ambition, Pleasuro. and the Lm^e of Gain ! 



MO THE COMPLAINT. >. vij. 

Can&t thou suspect that these, whicli make the soul 
The slave of earth, should own her heir of Heaven ? 
Canst thou suspect what makes us disbelieve 335 

Our immortality should prove it sure ? 

First, then. Ambition summon to the bar. 
Ambition's shame, extravagancQ, disgust, 
And inextinguishable nature, speak : 
Each much deposes ; hear them in their turn. 340 

The soul, how passionately fond of fame ! 
How anxious that fond passion to conceal ! 
"We blush, detected in designs on praise, 
Though for best deeds, and from the best of men ', 
And why ? because immortal. Art divine 345 

Has made the body tutor to the soul ; 
Heaven kindly gives our blood a moral flow, 
Bids it ascend the glowing cheek, and there 
"Upbraid that little heart's inglorious aim, 
Which stoops to court a character from man ; 350 
"While o'er us, in tremendous judgment, sit 
Far more than man, with endless praise and blame. 

Ambition's boundless appetite outspeaks 
The verdict of its shame. When souls take fire 
At high presumptions of their own desert, 355 

One age is poor applause : the mighty shout. 
The thunder by the living few begun, 
Xate Time must echo, worlds unborn resound. 
"We wish our names eternally to live ; 
"Wild dream ! which ne'er had haunted human thouglit, 
Had not our natures been eternal too. 361 

Instinct points out an interest in hereafter. 
But our blind reason sees not where it lies. 
Or, seeing, gives the substance for the shade. m 

Fame is the shade of Immortality, 365 ' 

And in itself a shadow ; soon as caught 
Contemn'd, it shrinks to nothing in the grasp. 
"Consult the' ambitious, 'tis Ambition's cure 
' And is this all .'" cried CcRsar, at his height. 
Disgusted. This third proof Ambition brings 370 , 



THE Infidel reclaimed, i4i 

Of immortality. The first in fame, 

Observe him near, your envy will abate : 

Shamed at the disproportion vast between 

The passion and the purchase, he will sigh 

At such success, and blush at his renown. 3.7B 

And why ? because far richer prize invites 

His heart ; far more illustrious glory calls ; 

It calls in whispers, yet the deafest hear. 

And can Ambition a fourth proof supply .'* 
It can, and stronger than the former three ; 38C 

Yet quite o'erlook'd by some reputed wise. 
Though disappointments in ambition pain. 
And though success disgusts, yet still, Lorenzo ! 
In vain we strive to pluck it from our hearts, 
By Nature planted for the noblest ends. 385 

Absurd the famed advice to Pyrrhus given, 
More praised than ponder'd ; specious, but unsound : 
Sooner that hero's sword the world had quell'd, 
Than reason his ambition. Man must soar ; 
An obstinate activity within, 390 

An insuppressive spring, will toss him up 
In spite of Fortune's load. Not kings alone, 
Each villager has his ambition too : 
No sultan prouder than his fetter'd slave. 
Slaves build their little Babylons of straw, 395 

Echo the proud Assyrian in their hearts, 
And cry, — ' Behold the wonders of my might !' 
And why .'' because immortal as their lord ; 
And souls immortal must for ever heave 
At something great ; the glitter or the gold ; 400 

The praise of mortals, or the praise of Heaven ! 

Nor absolutely vain is human praise, 
When human is supported by divine. 
I'll introduce Lorenzo to himself j 
Pleasure and Pride (bad masters !) share our hearts. 405 
As love of pleasure is ordain'd to guard 
Arid feed our bodies, and extend our race ; 
The love of praise is planted to protect 



142 THE COMPLAINT. n. 

And x)ropagate — the glories of the mind 1 

What is it, but the love of praise, inspires, 

Matures, refines, embellishes, exalts, 

Earth's happiness ? from that the delicate,. 

The grand, the marvellous, of civil life. 

Want and convenience, under-workers, lay 

The basis on which love of glory builds. 

Nor is thy life, O Virtue ! less in debt 

To praise, thy secret stimulating friend. 

Were men not proud, what merit should we miss ! 

Pride made tlie virtues of the Pagan worlcT. 

Praise is the salt that seasons right to man, 

And whets his appetite for moral good. 

Thirst of applause is Virtue's second guard, 

Pi-eason her first ; but Reason wants an aid ; 

Our private Reason is a flatterer ; 

Thirst of applause calls public judgment in 

To poise our own, to keep an even scale, 

And give endanger'd Virtue fairer play. 

Here a fifth proof arises, stronger still. 
Why this so nice construction of our hearts ? 
These delicate moralities of sense. 
This constitutional reserve of aid 
To succour Virtue when our Reason fails ; 
If Virtue, kept alive by care and toil, 
And oft the mark of injuries on earth. 
When labour'd to maturity (its bill 
Of disciplines and pains unpaid) must die ? -^ 

Why freighted rich to dash against a rock .'' 
Were man to perish when most fit to live, 
O how mispent were all these stratagems, 
By skill divine inwoven in our frame ! 
Where are Heaven's holiness and mercy fled .'* 
Laughs Heaven, at once, at virtue and at man .'' 
If not, why that discouraged, this destroy 'd .'' — 

Thus far Ambition : what says Avarice ? 
This her chief maxim, which has long been thine : • 
•^ The \yise and wealtiiy arc the same ' — I grant it. 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 44:^ 

To store up treasure with incessant toil, 
This is man's province, this his highest praise .: 
To this great end keen Instinct stings him on : 
To guide that instinct, Reason ! is thy charge ; 450 
'Tis thine to tell us where true treasure lies ; 
But Reason, failing to discharge her trust, 
Or to the deaf discharging it in vain, 
A blunder follows ; and blind Industry, 
Gall'd by the spur, but stranger to the course, 455 
(The course where stakes of more than gold are won) 
O'erloading with the cares of distant age 
The jaded spirits of the present hour, 
Provides for an eternity below. 

' Thou shalt not covet,' is a wise command, 46.0 
But bounded to the wealth the Sun surveys, . 

Look farther, the command stands quite reversed, 
And avarice is a virtue most divine. 
Is Faith a refuge for our happiness .'' — 
Most sure ; and is it not for reason too ? 4j&5 

Nothing this world unriddles but the next. 
Whence inextinguishable thirst of gain .'' 
From inextinguishable life in man : 
Man, if not meant, by worth, to reach the skies. 
Had wanted wing to fly so far in guilt. 470 

Sour grapes, I grant, ambition, avarice ; 
Yet still their root is immortality : 
These its wild growths, so bitter and so base, 
(Pain and reproach !) religion can reclaim. 
Refine, exalt, throw down their poisonous lee, 475 
And make them sparkle in the bowl of bliss. 

See, the third witness laughs at bliss remote. 
And falsely promises an Eden here : 
Truth she shall speak for once, though prone to lie, 
A common cheat, and Pleasure is her name. 480 

To Pleasure never was Lorenzo deaf; 
Then hear her now, now first thy real friend. 

Since Nature made us not more fond than pfoud 
Of happinesS; (vvhence hypocrites in joy I 



144 THE COMPLAINT. n. xii 

Makers of mirth ! artificers of smiles!) ^ 485 

Why should the joy most poignant sense affords 

Burn us with blushes^ and rebuke our pride ? — 

Those heaven-born blushes tell us man descends. 

E'en in the zenith of his earthly bliss : 

Should Reason take her infidel repose, 490 

This honest instinct speaks our lineage high ; 

This instinct calls on darkness to conceal 

Our rapturous relation to the stalls. 

Our glory covers us with noble shame, 

And he that's unconfounded is unmann'd. 495 

The man that blushes is not quite a brute. 

Thus far witJi thee, Lorenzo ! will I close, — 

Pleasure is good, and man for pleasure made ; 

But pleasure, full of glory .-is of joy ', 

Pleasure, which neither blushes nor expires. 500 

Tfie witnesses are heard, the cause is o'er ; "^ 
Let Conscience file the sentence in her court : 
Dearer than deeds that half a realm convey. 
Thus, seal'd by Truth, the' authentic record runs. 

' Know all ; know. Infidels, — unapt to know ! 505 
Tis immortality yoilr nature solves ; 
'Tis immortality deciphers man. 
And opens all the mysteries of his make : 
Without it, half his instincts are a riddle } 
Without it, all his virtues are a dream : 510 

His very crimes attest his dignity ; 
His sateless thirst of pleasure, gold, and fame, 
Declares him born for blessings infinite. 
What less than infinite makes unabsurd 
Passions, which all on earth but more inflames 1 515 
Fierce passions, so mismeasured to this scene, 
Stretch'd out, like eagles' wings, beyond our nest, 
Far, far beyond the worth of all below, 
For earth too large, presage a nobler flight. 
And evidence our title to the skies.' 520 

Ye ^?ntlo theologues of calmer kind ! 
Whoso constitution dictates to your p«u, 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 14? 

Who, cold 3'ourselves, think ardour comes from Hell I 
Think not our passions from corruption sprung-, 
Though to corruption now they lend their wings : 525 
That is their mistress, not their mother. All 
(And justly) Reason deem divine : I see, 
I feel a grandeur in the passions too, 
Which speaks their high descent and gloriotts end ; 
Which speaks them rays of an eternal fire : 530 

In Paradise itself they burn'd as strong, 
Ere Adam fell ; though wiser in their aim. 
Like the proud Eastern, struck by Providence, 
What though our passions are run mad, and stoop,. 
With low terrestrial appetite, to graze 535 

On trash, on toys, dethroned from high desire ? 
Yet still, through their disgrace, a feeble ray 
Of greatness shines, and tells us whence they fell : 
But these (like that fallen monarch when reclaim'd) 
When Reason moderates the reign aright, 540 

Shall reascend, remount their former sphere, 
Where once they soar'd illustrious, ere seduced, 
By wanton Eve's debauch, to stroll on earth, 
And set the sublunary world on fire. 

But grant their frenzy lasts ; their frenzy fails 545 
To disappoint o/ie providential end, 
Fo.r which Heaven blew up ardour in our hearts 
Were Reason silent, boundless Passion speaks 
A future scene of boundless objects too, 
And brings glad tidings of eternal day. 550 

Eternal day ! 'tis that enlightens all ; 
And all, by that enlighten'd, proves it sure. 
Consider man as an immortal being, 
Intelligible all, and all is great ; 

A crystalline transparency prevails, 555 

And strikes full lustre through the human sphere : 
Cor.t^ider man as mortal, all is dark 
Arri vretclied ; Reason weeps at the survey. 

! learn'd Lorenzo cries, ' And let her weep ; 
modern Roason : gjucient times were wise. 560 



146 THE COMPLAINT. n. vis. 

Authority, that venerable guide, 

Stands on my part ; the famed Atiienian Porch 

(And who for wisdom so renown'd as they ?) 

Denied this immortality to man.' 

I grant it ; but affirm, they proved it too. 565 

* A riddle this ?' — Have patience ; I'll explam. 
What noble vanities, what moral flights, 

Glittering through their romantic Wisdom's page, 

Make us, at once, despise them and admire ! 

Fable is flat to these high-season'd sires ; 570 

They leave the' extravagance of song below. 

' Flesh shall not feel, or, feeling, shall enjoy 

The dagger or the rack ; to them, alike 

A bed of roses, or the burning bull.' 

In men exploding all beyond the grave, 575 

Strange doctrine this I as doctrine it was strange, 

But not as prophecy ; for such it proved. 

And, to their own amazement, was fulfilled : 

They feign'd a firmness Christians need not feign. 

The Christian truly triumph'd in the flame j 5S0 

The Stoic saw, in double wonder lost. 

Wonder at them, and wonder at himself. 

To find the bold adventures of his thought 

JN^ot bold, and that he strove to lie in vain. 

Whence, then, those thoughts ? those towering 
thoughts, that flew 585 

Such monstrous heights ? — From instinct andfromgride. 
The glorious instinct of a deathless soul. 
Confusedly conscious of her dignity. 
Suggested truths they could not understand. 
In Lust's dominion, and in Passion's storm, 590 

Truth's syst 3m broken, scatter'd fragments lay 
As light in chaos, glimmering through the glot 
Smit with the pomp of lofty sentiments. 
Pleased Pride proclaim'd what Reason disbelieve 
Pride, like the Delphic priestess, with a swell, 
Raved nonsense, destined to be future sense, 
When life iminortal, in full day should shine ; 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 3^7 

And Death's dark shadows fly the gospel-sun. 

They spoSe what nothing but immortal souls 

Could speak : and thus the truth they question'^ 
proved. 609 

' Can, then, absurdities, as well as crimes, 
'^peak man immortal ?' All things speak him so. 

Much has been urged ; and dost thou call for more ? 

Call, and with endless questions be distressed, 

All unresolvable, if earth is all. 605 

* Why life, a moment ? infinite, desire .^ 

Our wish, eternity ? our home, the grave ? 

Heaven's promise dormant lies in human hope ; 

Who wishes life immortal proves it too. 

Why happiness pursued, though never found ! 610 

Man's thirst of happiness declares it is 

(For Nature never gravitates to nought) ; 

That thirst unquench'd, declares It is not here. 

My Lucia, thy Clarissa, call to thought ; 

Why cordial friendship rivetai so deep, 615 

As hearts to pierce at first, at parting rend, 

If friend and friendship vanish in an hour .'' 

Is not this torment in the mask of joy 'i 

Why by reflection marr'd the joys of sense ? 

Why past and future preying on our hearts, 620 

And putting all our present joys to death .'' 

Why labours Reason ? Instinct were as well ; 

Instinct far better : what can choose can err. 
'O how infallible the thoughtless brute ! 

'Twere well his Holiness were half as sure. 625 

Reason with Inclination why at war -* 

Why sense of guilt ? why conscience up in arms .' 
Conscience of guilt is prophecy of pain, 

And bosom-counsel to decline the blow. 

Reason with Inclination ne'er had jarr'd, 630 

If nothing future paid forbearance here. 

Thus on — these, and a thousand pleas uncall'd, 

All promise,^ some insure, a second scene ; 

Which, were it doubtful, would be dearer far 
/Jhan all tjiino^s else vnafX certain : were it false, 69 J 



148 THE COMPLAINT. n. vn,. 

What tmlh on earth so precious as the lie? 

This world it gives us, let what will ensue ^ 

This world it gives in that high cordial, hope ;' 

The future of the present is the soul. 

How this life groans, when sever'd from the next ! 640 

Poor mutilated wretch, that disbelieves ! 

By dark distrust his being cut in two, 

In both parts perishes ; life void of joy, 

Sad prelude of eternity in pain ! 

Couldst thou persuade me the next life could fail C45 

Our ardent wishes, how should I pour out 

My bleeding heart in anguish, new as deep ! 

Oil ! with what thoughts thy hope, and my despair 

Abhorr'd Annihilation ! blasts the soul, 

And wide extends tlic bounds of human woe ! 650 

Could I believe Lorenzo's system true, 

In this black channel would my ravings run : — 

' Grief from the future borrov/'d peace, erewhile. 
The future vanish'd ! and the present pain'd ? 
Strange import of unprecedented ill ! 655 

Fall how profound ! like Lucifer's the fall ! 
Unequal fate ! his fall, without his guilt ! 
From where fond Hope built her pavilion high, 
The gods among, hurl'd headlong, hurl'd at once 
To night ! to nothing ! darker still than night ! 660 
If 'twas a dream, why wake me my worst foe, 
Ijorenzo ! boastful of the name of friend ! 
O for delusion ! O for error still ! 
Could vengeance strike much stronger than to plant 
A thinking being in a world like this,., " 665- 

I^ot over rich before, now beggar'd quite, 
More cursed than at the fall ! — The Sun goes out ! 
The thorns shoot up ! what thorns in every thought I 
Why sense of better ? it imbitters worse. 
Why sense ? why life ? if but to sigh, then sink 670 
To what I was ! twice nothing ! and much woe ! 
Woe from Heaven's bounties ! woe fVom what was wont 
To flatter most, high intellectual powers. 
Thought, virtue, knowledge-! blessings, by thy scheme, 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 119 

AU poison'd into pains. First, knowledge, once C75 
I\I^ soul's ambition, now her greatest dread. 
To know myself, true wisdom 'i — No, to shun 
That shocking science, parent of Despair ! 
Avert thy mirror ; if I see, I die. 

' Know my Creator ? climb his bless'd abode 680 
By painful speculation, pierce the vail, 
Dive in his nature, read his attributes, 
And gaze in admiration — on a foe, 
Obtruding life, withholding happiness ! 
From the full rivers that surround his throne, 685 

Not letting fall one drop of joy on man ; 
Man gasping for one drop, that he migiit cease 
To curse his birth, nor envy reptiles more ! 
Ye sable clouds ! ye darkest ,shades of night ! 
Hide him, for ever hide him, from my thought, 690 
Once all my comfort, source and soul of joy ! 
Now leagued with furies, and with thee,* against me. 

' Know his achievements ? study his renown ? 
Contemplate this amazing Universe, 
Dropp'd from his hand with miracles replete ! 695 

For what .'' mid miracles of nobler name, 
To find one miracle of misery .' 
To find the being, which alone can know 
And praise his works, a blemish on his praise ! 
Through Nature's ample range, in thought to stroll, 
And start at man, the single mourner there, 701 

Breathing liigh hope i chain'd down to pangs and death! 

* Knowing is suffering : and shall Virtue share 
The sigh of Knowledge .' — Virtue shares the sigh. 
By straining up the steep of excellent, 705 

By battles fought, and from temptation won, 
What gains slie but the pang of seeing worth, 
Angelic worth, soon shuffled in the dark 
With every vice, and swept to brutal dust ? 
Merit is madness, virtue is a crime, 710 

A crime to reason, if it costs us pain 
*^ Lorenzo. 



•2a% TfiE COMPLAINT. n. vn 

Unpfiaid : what pain, amidst a thousand mote, 

To think the most abandon'd, after days ♦ 

Of triumph o'er their betters, find in death 

As soft a pillow, nor make fouler clay ! 715 ' 

' Duty ! rehgion ! — ^these, our duty done, 
Imply reward. Religion is mistake. 
Duty ! — there's none, but to repel the cheat. 
Ye cheats ! away : ye daughters of my pride, 
"Who feign yourselves the favourites of the skies, 720 
Ye towering hopes ! abortive energies ! 
That toss and struggle in my lying breast. 
To scale the skies, and build presumptions there, 
As I were heir of an eternity. 

Vain, vain ambitions ! trouble me no more. 725* 

Why travel far in quest of sure defeat .'' 
As bounded as my being be my wish. 
All is inverted, Wisdom is a fool. 
Sense ! take the rein ; bhnd Passion ! drive us on ; 
And, Ignorance ! befriend us on our way ; 730-' 

Ye now, but truest patrons of our peace ! 
Yes, give the pulse full empire ; live the brute, 
Since as the brute we die : the sum of man. 
Of godlike man ! to revel and to rot. 

* But not on equal terms with other brutes j 735 

Their revels a more poignant relish yield, 
And safer too ; they never poisons choose. 
Instinct than Reason makes more wholesome meals, 
And sends oil-marring Murmur far away. 
For sensual life they best philosophize, 740 

Theirs that serene the sages sought in vain : 
"Tis man alone expostulates with Heaven ; 
His all the power and all the cause to mourn. 
Shall human eyes alone dissolve in tears ? 
And bleed in anguish none but human hearts ? 745 
The wide-stretch'd realm of intellectual woe, 
Surpassing sensual far, is all our own. 
In life so fatally distingureh'd, why 
Cast in one lot. confounded. Iqmp'd in death .'' 



THE INFIDEI. RECLAIMED. lot 

* Ere yet in being, was mankind in guilt ? 750 
Why thunderd this peculiar clause against us, 

^ All-mortal, and all-wretched !" — Have the skies 

Reasons of state their subjects may not scan, 

Nor humbly reason when they sorely sigh ? — 

" All-mortal and all-wretched !" — 'Tis too much, 7o& 

Unparallel'd in Nature : 'tis too much. 

On being unrequested at thy hands. 

Omnipotent ! for I see nought but power. 

* And why see that ? why thought ! To toil and eat, 
Then make our bed in darkness, needs no thoaght. 760 
What superfluities are reasoning souls ! 

Oh ! give eternity, or thought d.^stroy. 

But without thought our curse were half unfelt ; 

Its blunted edge would spare the throbbing heart, 

And therefore 'tis bestow'd. I thank thee, Reason ! 

For aiding Life's too small calamities, 7G6 

And giving being to the dread of death. 

Such are thy bounties ! — Was it then too much 

For me to trespass on the brutal rights ? 

Too much for Heaven to make one emmet more ? 770 

Too much for Chaos to permit my mass 

A longer stay with essences unwrought, 

Unfashion'd, untormented into man ? 

Wretched preferment to this round of pains ! 

Wretched capacity of frenzy, thought ! 775 

Wretched capacity of dying, life ! 

Life, Thought, Worth, Wisdom, all (O foul revolt !) 

Once friends to peace gone over to the foe. 

* Death, then, has clianged its nature too. O Death ! 
Come to my bosom, thou best gift of Heaven ! 780 
Best friend of man ! since man is man no more. 
Why in this thorny wilderness so long. 

Since there "s no promised land's ambrosial bower, 

To pay me with its honey for my stings ? 

If needful to the selfish schemes of Heaven 785 

To sting us sore, why mock'd our misery ? 

Why this so sumptuous insult o'er our heads ? 



.152 THE COMPLAINT. n. vn. 

Why this ilkistrious canopy display'd ? 

Why so magnificently lodged, Despair ? 

At stated periods, sure-returning, roll 790 

These glorious orbs, that mortals may compute 

Their length of labours and of pains, nor lose 

Their misery's full measure ? — Smiles with flowers 

And fruits, promiscuous, ever teeming earth, 

That man may languish in luxurious scenes, 795 

And in an Eden mourn his wither'd joys ? 

Claim earth and skies man's admiration, due 

For such delights ? bless'd animals ! too wise 

To wonder, and too happy to complain ! 

' Our doom decreed demands a mournful scene : 800 
Why not a dungeon dark for the condemn'd : 
Why not the dragon's subterranean den 
For man to Iiowl in ? why not his abode 
Df the same dismal colour with his fate ? 
A Thebes, a Babylon, at vast expense 805 

Of time, toil, treasure, art, for owls and adders 
As congruous as for man this lofty dome, 
Which prompts proud thought, and kindles high desire 
If, from her humble chamber in the dust, 
While proud thought swells, and high desire inflames, 
The poor worm calls us for her inmates there, 811 
And round us Death's inexorable hand 
Draws the dark curtain close, undrawn no more. 

' Undrawn no more ! — behind the cloud of death, 
Once, I beheld a sun ; a sun which gilt 81b 

That sable cloud, and turn'd it all to gold. 
How the grave's alterd ! fathomless as hell ! 
A real hell to those who dream'd of Heaven. 
Annihilation ! how it yawns before me ; 
Next moment I may drop from thought, from sense, 
The privilege of angels and of worms, 821 

An outcast from existence ! and this spirit, 
This all-pervading, this «all-conscious soul. 
This particle of energy divine. 
Which travels NaturC; flies from star to star, 825 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 153 

And visits gods, and emulates their powers, 
For ever is extinguish'd. Horror ! death ! 
Deatli of that death I fearless once survey 'd !-r- 
When horror universal shall descend, 
And Heaven's dark concave urn all human race, 830 
On that enormous, unrefunding tomb, 
How just this verse ; this monumental sigh !' — 
*' Beneath the lumber of demolish'd worlds, 
Deep in the rubbish of the general wreck, 
Swept ignominious to the common mass 835 

Of matter, never dignified with life, 
Here lie proud rationals ; the sons of Heaven ! 
The lords of Earth ! the property of worms ! 
Beings of yesterday, and no to-rnorrow ! 
Who lived in terror, and in pangs expired ! 840 

All gone to rot in chaos, or to make 
Their happy transit into blocks or brutes. 
Nor longer sully their Creator's name." 

Lorenzo ! hear, pause, ponder, and pronounce. 
Just is this history ? if such is man, 845 

Mankind's historian, though divine, might weep ; 
And dares Lorenzo smile ? — I know thee proud ! 
For once let pride befriend thee : Pride looks pale 
At such a scene, and sighs for something more. 
Amid thy boasts, presumptions, and displays, 850 

And art thou then a shadow ? less than shade .•* 
A nothing ? less than nothing ? To have been, 
And not to be, is lower than unborn. 
Art thou ambitious ? why then make the worm 
Thine equal ? — Runs thy taste of pleasure high .•* 855 
Why patronize sure death of every joy ? — 
Charm riches ? why ojioose beggary in the grave, 
Of every hope a bankrupt ! and for ever ? — 
Ambition, Pleasure, Avarice persuade thee 
To make that world of glory, rapture, wealth, 8C0^ 
They lately proved,* thy soul's supreme desire ! 

What art thou made of? rather, how unmade ? 
* In the Sixth Nijrht. 



154 THE COMPLAINT. n. vir, 

Great Nature's master-appetite destroy'd, 

Is endless life and happiness despised ? 

Or both wish'd here, where neither can be found. 860 

Such man's perverse eternal war with Heaven ! 

Darest thou persist ? and is there nought on earth 

But a long train of transitory forms, 

Rising and breaking millions in an liour .' 

Bubbles of a fantastic deity, blown up 870 

In sport, and then in cruelty destroy'd ? 

Oh ! for what crime, unmerciful Lorenzo ! 

Destroys thy scheme the whole of human race .' 

Kind is fell Lucifer compared to thee. 

Oh ! spare this waste of being half divine, 875 

And vindicate the' economy of Heaven. 

Heaven is all love ; all joy in giving joy ; 
It never had created but to bless ; 
And shall it then strike off the list of life 
A being bless'd, or worthy so to be .' 880 

Heaven starts at an annihilating God. 
Is that, all Nature starts at, thy desire ? 
Art such a clod to wish thyself all clay ? 
What is that dreadful wish ? — the dying groan 
Of Nature, murder'd by the blackest guilt. 885 

What deadly poison has thy nature drunk .'' 
To Nature undebauch'd, no shock so great. 
Nature's first wish is endless happiness ; 
Annihilation is an afterthought, 

A monstrous wish, unborn till Virtue dies, 8D0 

And, oil ! what depth of horror lies enclosed '. 
For nonexistence no man ever wish'd, 
But first he wish'd the Deity destroy'd. 

If so : what words are dark eirough to draw 
Thy picture true ? the darkest are too fair. 895 

Beneath what baleful planet, in what hour 
Of desperation, by what fury's aid, 
In what infernal posture of the soul, 
All hell invited, and all hell in joy 
At such a birth; a birtji so near of kin, HOO 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED 155 

Did thy foul fancy whelp so black a scheme 
Of hopes abortive, faculties half-blown, 
And deities begun, reduced to dust ? 

* There's nought (thou say'st) but one eternal flux 
Of feeble essences, tumultuous driven 905 

Through Time's rough billows into Night's abyss.' 
Say, in this rapid tide of human ruin. 
Is there no rock on which man's tossing thought 
Can rest from terror, dare his fate survey, 
And boldly think it something to be born ? 910 

Amid such hourly wrecks of being fair, 
Is there no central, all-sustaining base, 
All-realizing, all-connecting power, 
Which, as it call'd forth all things, can recal, 
And force Destruction to refund her spoil ? 915 

Command the grave restore her taken prey ? 
Bid death's dark vale its human harvest yield ? 
And Earth and Ocean pay their debt of man, 
True to the grand deposit trusted there ? 
Is there no potentate, whose outstretch'd arm, 920 
When ripening Time calls forth the' appointed hour, 
riuck'd from foul Devastation's famish'd maw, 
Binds present, past, and future, to his throne ? 
His throne how glorious ! thus divinely graced 
By germinating beings clustering round ! 925 

A garland worthy the Divinity ! 
A throne, by Heaven's Omnipotence in smiles, 
Built (like a Pharos towering in the waves) 
Amidst immense effusions of his love ! 
An ocean of communicated bliss ! 930 

An all-prolific, all-preserving God ! 
This were a God indeed. — And such is njan, 
As here presumed ; he rises from his fall. 
Think'st thou Omnipotence a naked root, 
Each blossom fair of Deity destroyed ? 935 

Nothing is dead : nay, nothing sleeps ; eacli soul, 
That ever animated human clay^ 



156 THE COMPLAINT. n. vii. 

Now wakes, is on the wing : and where, O where 
Will the swarm settle ?-^When the trumpet's call, 
As sounding brass, collects us round Heaven's throne 
Conglobed, we bask in everlasting day, 941 

(Paternal splendour !) and adhere for ever. 
Had not the soul this outlet to the skies, 
In this vast vessel of the universe 
How should we gasp, as in an empty void ! 945 

How in the pangs of famish'd hope expire ! 

How bright my prospect shines ! how gloomy thine ! 
A trembling world and a devouring God ! 
Earth but the shambles of Omnipotence ! 
Heaven's face all stain'd with causeless massacres 950 
Of countless millions, born to feel the pang 
Of being lost. Lorenzo ! can it be ? 
Xhis bids us shudder at the thoughts of life ! 
Who would be born to such a phantom world, 
Were nought substantial, but our misery ? 955 

Where joy (if joy) but heightens our distress 
So soon to perish, and revive no more ! 
The greater such a joy, the more it pains. 
A world so far from great, (and yet how great 
It shines to thee !) there's nothing real in it ; 9G0 

Being, a shadow ; consciousness, a dream : 
A dream how dreadfiil ! universal blank 
Before it and behind ! poor man, a spark 
From nonexistence struck by wrath divine, ^ 
Glittering a moment, nor that moment sure, 9G5 

Midst upper, nether, and surrounding night, 
His sad, sure, sudden, and eternal tomb ! 

Lorenzo ! dost thou feel these arguments ? 
Or is there nought but vengeance can be felt '* 
How hast thou dared the Deity dethrone ? 970 

How dared indict him of a world like this ? 
If such the world. Creation was a crirpe ; - 
For what is crime, but cause of misery ? 
Retract, blasphemer ! and unriddle this, 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 157 

Of endless arguments above, below, 975 

Without us, and within, the short result — 
If man's immortal, there's a God in heaven !' 

But wherefore such redundancy ? such waste 
. Of argument ? one sets my soul at rest ; 
One obvious, and at hand, and, oh ! — at heart. 980 
So just the skies, Philander's life so pain'd, 
His heart so pure, that or succeeding scenes 
Have palms to give, or ne'er had he been born ! 

* What an old tale is this !' Lorenzo cries. — 
I grant this argument is old ; but truth 9S5 

No years impair ; and had not this been true. 
Thou never hadst despised it for its age 
Truth is immortal as thy soul, and fable 
As fleeting as thy joys. Eewise, nor make 
Heaven's highest blessing vengeance. O be wise ! 990 
Nor make a curse of immortality ! 

Say, know'st thou what it is, or what tjiou art ? 
Know'st thou the' importance of a soul immortal ?. 
Behold tliis midnight glory : worlds on worlds ! 
Amazing pomp ; redouble this amaze ! 995 

Ten thousand add ; add twice ten thousand more ; 
Then weigh the v/hole ; one soul outweighs them all, 
And calls the' astonishing magnificence 
Of unintelligent creation poor. 

For this, believe not me : no man believe ; 1000 
Trust not in words, but deeds ; and deeds no less 
Than those of the Supreme, nor his a few . 
Consult them all ; consulted, all proclaim 
Thy soul's importance. Tremble at thyself, 
For whom Omnipotence has waked so long ; lOOo 
Has waked, and work'd for ages ; from the birth 
Of Nature to this unbelieving hour. 

In this small province of his vast domain 
(All Nature bow while I pronounce his name !) 
What has God done, and not for this sole end, 1010 
To rescue souls from death .' The soul's Jii^h price 
Is writ in all the conduct of the skies 
H 



158 THE COMPLAINT. k. vir 

The soul's high price is the Creation's key, 

Unlocks its mysteries, and naked lays 

The genuine cause of every deed divine : . 1015 

That is the chain of ages which maintains 

Their obvious correspondents, and unites 

Most distant periods in one bless'd design : 

That is the mighty hinge on which have turn'd 

All revolutions, whether we regard 1020 

The natural, civil, or religious world ; 

The former two, but servants to the third : 

To that their duty done, the}^ both expire, 

Their mass new-cast, forgot their deeds renown'd, 

And angels ask, < Where once they shone so fair ?' 

To lift us from this abject, to sublime 3 1026 

Tliis flux, to permanent ; this dark, to djiy ; 
This foul, to pure ; this turbid, to serene ; 
This mean, to mighty ! — for this glorious end 
The' Almighty, rising, his long sabbath broke ! 1030 
The world was made, was ruin'd, was restored; 
Laws from the skies were publish'd, were repeal'd ; 
On earth kings, kingdoms, rose ; kings, kingdoms, fell , 
Famed sages lighted up the Pagan world ; 
Prophets" from Sion darted a keen glance 1035 

Through distant ago ; saints travel'd, martyrs bled ; 
By wonders sacred Nature stood control'd ; 
The living were translated ; dead were raised ; 
Angels, and more than angels, came from Heaven ; 
And, oh ! for this descended lower still : 1040 

Gilt was Hell's gloom ; astonish'd at his guest, 
For one short moment Lucifer adored, 
liorenzo ! and wilt thou do less ? — For this 
That hallow'd page, fools scoff at, was inspired, 
Of all these truths, thrice-venerable code ! 1045 

])eists ! perform your quarantine ', and then 
Fall prostrate, ere you touch it, lest you die. 

Nor less intensely bent infernal powers 
To mar, than those of light, this end to gain. 
O what a scene is here !~-Lorcnxo 1 wake I 1050 



THE INFIDEL iCECLAIMED. 150 

Rise to tlio thought ; exert, expand thy soul 

To take the vast idea ; it denies 

All else the name of great. Two warring worlds, 

Not Europe against Afric ! warring worlds, 

Of more than mortal, mounted on the wing ! 1055 

On ardent wings of energy and zeal, 

High hovering o'er this little brand of strife, 

This sublunary ball. — But strife, for what ^ 

In their own cause conflicting ! no ; in thine, 

In man's. His single interest blows the flame ; 1060 

His the sole stake ; his fate the trumpet sounds 

Which kindles war immortal. How it burns ! • 

Tumultuous swarms of deities in arms ; 

Force, force opposing, till the waves run high, 

And tempest Nature's universal sphere. 1065 

Such opposites eternal, steadfast, stern, 

Such foes implacable are good and ill ; 

Yet man, vain man. would mediate peace between tkcm. 

Think not this fiction : ' There was war in heaven.' 
From heaven's high crystal mountain, where it hung, 
The' Almighty's outstretch'd arm took down his bow, 
And shot his indignation at the deep : 
Rethunder'd Hell, and darted all her fires. — 
And seems the stake of little moment still ! 
And slumbers man, who singly caused the storm.' 1075 
He sleeps. — And art thou shock'd at mj'steries .' 
The greitest, thou. How dreadful to reflect 
What ardour, care, and counsel mortals cau.se 
in breasts divine ! how little in their own ! 

Where'er I turn, how nev/ proofs pour upon me ! 
Hov/ happily this wondrous view supports 1081 

My former argument ! how strongly strikes 
Immortal life's full demonstration here ! 
Why this exertion .' why this strange regard 
From Heaven's Omnipotent indulged to man.' — 1085 
Because in man the glorious, dreadful power, 
Extremely to be pain'd, or bless'd for ever. 
Duration gives importance, swells the price. 



1()0 THE COMPLAINT. n vi . 

An angel, if a creature of a day, 

What would he be ? a triHe of no weight ; 1090 

Or stand or fall, no matter which, he's gone. 

Because immortal, therefore is indulged 

This strange regard of deities to dust. 

Hence Heaven looks down on earth with all her eyes , 

Hence, the soul's mighty moment in her sight ; 1095 

Hence, every soul has partisans above, 

And every thought a critic in the skies : 

Hence clay, vile clay ! has angels for its guard, 

And every guard a passion for his charge : 

Hence, from all age, the cabinet divine 1100 

Has held high counsel o'er the fate of man. 

Nor have the clouds those gracious counsels hid 
Angels undrew the curtain of the throne, 
And Providence came forth to meet mankind : 
In various modes of emphasis and awe 1105 

He spoke his will, and trembling Nature heard 
He spoke it loud, in thunder, and in storm : 
Witness thou, Sinai! whose cloud-coverd height, 
And shaken basis, own'd the present God : 
Witness, ye bUlows ! whose returning tide, 1110 

Breaking the chain that fasten'd it in air, 
Swept Egypt and her menaces to hell , 
Witness, ye flames ! the' Assyrian tyrant blew 
To sevenfold rage, as impotent as strong : 
And thou. Earth ! witness, whose expanding jaws 1115 
Closed o'er Presumption's sacrilegious sons :* 
Has not each element, in turn, subscribed 
'I'he soul's high price, and sworn it to the wise ? 
Has not flame, ocean, ether, earthquake, strove 
To strike this truth through adamantine man ? 1120 
If not all adamant, Lorenzo ! hear ; 
All is delusion ; Nature is wrapp'd up 
In tenfold night, from Reason's keenest eye : 
There's no consistence, meaning, plan or end. 
In all beneath the sun, in all above, 1125 

* Korah. &c. 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED, 161 

(As far as man can penetrate) or heaven 

Is an immense, inestimable prize ; 

Or all is nothing, or that prize is all. — 

And shall each toy be still a match for heaven, 

"And full equivalent for groans below ? ' 1130 

Who would riot give a trifle to prevent 

What he would give a thousand worlds to cure ? 

Lorenzo ! thou hast seen (if thine to see) 
All Nature, and her God, (by Nature's course, 
And Nature's course control'd) declare for me. 1135 
The skies above i)roclaim ' immortal man !' 
And ' man immortal !' all bclov/ resounds. 
The world's a system of theology, 
Read by the greatest strangers to the schools ; 
If honest, learn'd ; and sages o'er a plough. 1140 

Is not, Lorenzo ! then, imposed on theo 
This hard alternative, or to renounce 
Thy reason and thy sense, or to bclievQ ? 
What then is unbelief.^ 'tis an exploit, 
A strenuous enterprise ; to gain it, man 114,3 

Must burst through every bar of common sense, 
Of common shame, magnanim.ously wrong ; 
And what rewards tlie sturdy combatant ? — 
His prize, repentance ; infamy, his crown. 

But wherefore infamy ! — for Vv'ant of faith 11,50 

Down the steep prccipics of wrong he slides ; 
There's nothing to support him in the right. 
Faith in -the future wanting is, at least 
In embryo, every v.-oakness, every guilt. 
And strong temptation ripens it to birth, 1155 

If this life's gain invites him to the deed, 
Why not his country sold, his father slain ? 
'Tis virtue to pursue our good supreme. 
And his supreme, his only good, is here ! 
Ambition, avarice, by the wise disdain'd, II GO 

Is perfect wisdom while mankind are fools, 
And think a turf or tombstone covers all : 
These find cmplovmcnt, and provide for sense. 



1 1^ THE COMPLAINT. n. t 1 1 

A richer pasture, and a larger range ; 
And sense, by right divine, ascends the throne. lxG5 
When Virtue's prize and prospect are no more, 
Virtue no more we think the will of Heaven. 
Would Heaven quite beggar Virtue, if beloved ? 

' Has Virtue charms ?' — I grant her heavenly fair ; 
But if unportion'd, all will Interest wed, 1170 

Though that our admiration, this our choice. 
The virtues grow on Immortality ; 
That root destroy 'd they wither and expire. 
A Deity believed will nought avail ; 
Rewards and punishments make God adored, 1175 
And hopes and fears give Conscience all her power. 
As in the dying parent dies the child. 
Virtue with Immortality expires. 
Who tells me he denies his soul immortal, 
Whate'er his boast, has told me he's a knave. USD 
His duty 'tis to love himself alone, 
Nor care though mankind perish if he smiles. 
Who tliinks ere long the man shall wholly die 
Is dead already ; nought but brute survives. 

And are there such .'' Such candidates there are 
For more than death ; for utter loss of being ; 118C 
Being, the basis of the Deity ! 
Ask you the cause .'' — the cause they will not tell : 
Nor need they. Oh, the sorceries of sense ! 
They work this transformation on the soul, 1190 

Dismount her like the serpent at the fall. 
Dismount her from her native wing (which soar'd 
Erewhile ethereal heights,) and throw her down 
To lick the dust, and crawl in such a thought. 

Is it in words to paint you ? O ye Fallen ! 1195 

Fallen from the wings of reason and of hope ! 
Erect in stature, prone m appetite ! 
Patrons of pleasure, posting into pain ! 
Lovers of argument, averse to sense ! 
Boasters of liberty ! fast bound in chains ! 1200 

Lords of the wide creation, and tlie shame ! 



THE INFIDEL RECLALMED. 1G3 

More senseless than the' irrationals you scorn I 

More base than those you rule ! than those you pity 

Far more undone ! O ye most infamous 

Of beings, from superior dignity ! 1205 

Deepest in woe, from means of boundless bliss ! 

Ye cursed by blessings infinite ! because 

Most highly favour'd, most profoundly lost ! 

Ye motley mass of contradiction strong ! 

And are you, too, convinced your souls fly off 1210 

In exhalation soft, and die in air, 

From the full flood of evidence against you ? 

In the coarse drudgeries and sinks of sense, 

Your souls have quite worn out the make of Heaven, 

By vice new cast, and creatures of your own ; 1215 

But though 3'ou can deform, you can't destroy : 

To curse, not uncreate, is all your power. 

Lorenzo ! this black brotherhood renounce ; 
Renounce St. Evreniond, and read St. Paul, 
Ere rapp'd by miracle, by reason wing'd, 1220 

His mounting mind made long abode in Heaven. 
This is freethinking, unconfined to parts, 
To send the soul, on curious travel bent. 
Through all the provinces of human thought ; 
To dart her flight through the whole sphere of man ; 
Of this vast universe to make the tour ; 1226 

In each recess of space and time at home, 
Familiar with their wonders ; diving deep •, 
And, like a prince of boundless interests there^ 
Still most ambitious of the most remote ; 1230 

To look on truth unbroken and entire ; 
Truth in the system, the full orb ; where truths 
By truths enlighten'd and sustain'd, aflbrd 
An archlike strong foundation, to support 
The' incumbent weight of absolute compiete 1235 

Conviction : here, the more we press, we stand 
More firm : who most examine, most believe. 
Parts, like half-sentences, confound ; the whole 
Conveys the sense, and God is understood j 



164 THE COMPLAINT. .%. vn 

Who not in fragments writes to human race : 1240 
Read his whole volume, sceptic ! then reply. 

This, this is thinking free, a thought that grasps 
Beyond a grain, and looks beyond an hour. 
Turn up thine eye, survey tiiis midnight scene ; 
What are earth's kingdoms to yon boundless orbs, 124.5 
Of human souls, one day, the destined range ? 
And what yon boundless orbs to godlike man ? 
Those numerous worlds that throng the firmament, 
And -ask more space in Heaven, can roll at large 
In man's capacious thought, and still leave room 1250 
For ampler orbs, for new creations there. 
Can such a soul contract itself, to gripe 
A point of no dimension, of no weight ? 
It cart ; it does : the world is such a point ; 
And of tliat point how small a part enslaves ! 1255 

How small a part — of nothing, shall I say ? 
Why not ? — Friends, our chief treasure, how they drop! 
Lucia, Narcissa fliir, Piiilander, gone ! 
The giave, like fabled Cerberus, has oped 
A triple mouth, and in an awful voice 1260 

Loud calls my soul, and utters all I sing. 
How the world falls to pieces round about us, 
And leaves us in a ruin of our joy ! 
What says this transportation of my friends ? 
It bids me love the place where now they dweH7 12C.3 
And scorn this Avretch'ed spot they leave so poor. 
Eternity's vast ocean lies bcforo thee ; 
There, there, Lorenzo I thy Clarissa sails. 
Give thy miud sea-room ; keep it wide of earth, 
That rock of souls immortal ; cut thy cord ; 1270 

Weigh anchor ; spread thy sails ; call every wind : 
Lye thy great Pole-star ; make the land of Life ' 

Two kinds of life has double-natured man,. 
And two of death ; the last far more severe. 
Life animal is niurtured by the Sun, 1275 

Thrives on his bounties, triumphs in his beams : 
Life rational subsists on bi2:hcr food, 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 165 

Triumphant in His beams who made the day : 
When we leave that Sun, and are left by this 
(The fate of all who die in stubborn gui^t,) 1280 

'Tis utter darkness ; strictly double death. 
We sink by no judicial stroke of Heaven, 
But nature's course ; as sure as plummets fall. 
Since God or man must alter ere they meet, 
(Since light and darkness blend not in our sphere)' 1285 
'Tis manifest, Lorenzo, v/ho must change. 

If, then, that double death should prove thy lot, 
Blame not the bowels of the Deity ; 
Man shall be bless'd, as far as man permits 
Not man alone, all rationals Heaven arms 12D0 

With an illustrious, but tremendou3 power, 
To counteract its own most gracious ends, 
And this of strict nepessity, not choice ; 
That power denied, men, angels, were no more 
But passive engines, void of praise or blame. 1295 
A nature rational implies the power 
Of being bless'd or wretched, as we please ; 
Else idle Reason would have nought to do, 
And he that would be barr'd capacity 
Of pain, courts incapacity of bliss. 1300 

Heavon wills our happiness, allows our doom } 
Invites us ardently, but not compels ; 
Heaven but persuades, almighty man decrees. 
Man is the maker of immortal fates. 
Man falls by man, if finally he falls ; 1305 

And fall he must, who learns from death alone 
The dreadful secret, — that he lives for ever. 

Why this to thee .'' — thee yet, perhaps, in doubt 
Of second life .-' but wherefore doubtful still ? 
Eternal life is Nature's ardeat wish ; 1810 

What ardently we wish we soon believe : 
Thy tardy faith declares that wish destroy'd : 
What has destroy'd it ? — shall 1 tell thee what ? 
When fear'd the future, 'tis no longer wish'd ; 
And when unwish'd, we strive to disbelieve. 1315 



166 THE COMPLAINT. n. vn 

* Thus Infidelity our guilt betrays,' 

Nor that the sole detection ! Blush, Lorenzo ! 

Blush for hypocrisy, if not for guilt. 

The future fear'd ? — An infidel, and fear ? 

Fear what ? a dream ? a fable ? — How thy dread, 1320 

Unwilling evidence, and therefore strong, 

Affords my cause an undesign'd support ! 

How Disbehef affirms what it denies ! 

.* It, unawares, asserts immortal life.' — 

Surprising ! . Infidelity turns out 1325 

A creed and a confession of our sins : 

Apostates, thus, are orthodox divines. 

Lorenzo ! with Lorenzo clash no more, 
Nor longer a transparent vizor wear. 
Think 'st thou Religion only has her mask .' 1330 

Our infidels are "Satan's hypocrites, 
Pretend the worst, and, at the bottom, fail. 
When visited by thought (thought will intrude,) 
Like him they serve, they tremble and believe. 
Is there hj'^pocrisy so foul as this ? 1335 

So fatal to the welfare of the world .'' 
IVhat detestation, what contempt, their due ! 
And, if unpaid, be thank'd for their escape, 
That Christian candour they strive hard to scorn. 
If not for that asylum, they might find 1340 

A hell on earth, nor scape a worse below. 

With insolence and impotence of thought, 
Instead of racking fancy to refute. 
Reform thy manners, and the truth enjoy. — 
But shall I dare confess the dire result^ 1345 

Can thy proud reason brook so black a brand ' 
From purer manners to sublimer faith, 
Is Nature's unavoidable ascent. 
An aoncst Deist, where the Gospel shines, 
Matured to nobler, in the Christian ends. ' 1350 

When that bless'd change arrives, e'en cast aside 
This song superfluous : life immortal strikes 
Conviction in a flood of lin-ht divine. 



THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED. 167 

A Christian dwells, like Uriel,* in the Sun ; 
Meridian evidence puts doubt to flight, 1355 

And ardent hope anticipates the skies. 
Of that bright Sun, Lorenzo ! scale the sphere : 
'Tis easy ; it invites thee ; it descends 
From Heaven, to woo and waft thee whence it came. 
Read and revere the sacred page, a page 13G0 

Where triumphs immortality ; a page 
Which not the whole Creation could produce } 
Which not the Conflagration shall destroy : 
^Tis printed in the mind of gods for ever, " 
In Nature's ruins not one letter lost. 13G5 

In proud disdain of what e'en gods adore, 
Dost smile .'' — Poor wretch ! thy guardian angel weeps. 
Angels and men. assent to what I sing ; 
Wits smile, and thank me for my midnight dream. 
How vicious hearts fume frenzy to the brain ! 1370 
Parts push us on to pride, and pride to shame : 
Pert Infidelity is Wit's cockade. 
To -grace the brazen brow that braves the skies, 
By loss of being dreadfully secure. 
Lorenzo ! if thy doctrine v/ins the day, 1375 

And drives my dreams, defeated, from the field ; 
If this is all, if earth a final scene, 
Take heed •. stand fast ; be sure to be a knave j 
A knave in grain ! ne'er deviate to the right. 
Shouldst thou "be good — how infinite thy loss ! 1380 
Guilt only makes annihilation gain. 
Bless'd scheme ! which life deprives of comfort, deatli 
Of hope, and which vice only recommends. 
If so, where, Infidels ! your bate thrown out 
To catch weak converts .'' where your lofty boast 13S5 
Of zeal for virtue, and of love to man ? 
Annihilation ! I confess in these. 

What can reclaim you ? dare I hope profound 
Philosophers the converts of a song ? 
* Milton's Paradise Lost, 



168 THE COMPLAINT. n. tu. 

Yet know its title* flatters 3^ou, not rae ; 1390 

Yours be the praise to make my title good ; 

Mine to bless Heaven, and triumph in your praise. 

But since so pestilential your disease, 

Though sovereign is the medicine I prescribe, 

As yet I'll neither triumph nor despair, 1395 

But hope, ere long, my midnight dream will wake 

Your hearts, and teach your wisdom — to be wise : 

For why should souls immortal, made for bliss, 

E'er wish (and wish in vain !) that souls could die ? 

What ne'er can die, oh ! grant to live, and crown 1400 

The wish, and aim, and labour of the skies j 

Increase, and enter on the joys of Heaven : 

Thus shall ray title pass a sacred seal, 

Receive an imprimatur from above, 

While angels shout — an Infidel Reclaim'd ! 1405 

To close, Lorenzo ! spite of all my pains. 
Still seems it strange that thou shouldst live for ever ? 
Is it less strange that thou shouldst live at all ? 
This is a miracle, and that no more. 
W^ho gave beginning can exclude an end. 1410 

Deny thou art ; then doubt if thou shalt be. 
A miracle with miracles enclosed 
Is man ! and starts his faith at what is strange ? 
What less than wonders from the wonderful .-' 
What less than miracles from God can flow .'* 1415 
Admit a God — that mystery supreme ! 
That cause uncaused ! all other wonders cease : 
Nothing is marvellous for him to do : 
Deny him — all is mystery besides ; 
Millions of mysteries 1 each darker far 1420 

That that thy wisdom would, unwisely, shun. 
If weak thy faith, why choose the harder side ? 
We nothing know but what is marvellous ; 
Yet what is marvellous we can't believe. 
Bo weak our reason, and so great our God, 1425 

*The Infidel Reclaimed. 



THE INFIDEL RECLALMED. 1C9 

WJjat most surprises in the sj^cred page, 
Or full as strange, or stranger, must be true. 
Faith is not reason's labour, but repose. 

To faith and virtue why so backvrard, man ? 
From hence ; — the present strongly strikes us all ; 1430 
The future, faintly : can we, then, be men .'' 
If men, Lorenzo ! the reverse is right. 
Reason is man's peculiar ; sense the brute's. 
The present is the scanty realm of Sense ; 
The future. Reason's empire unconfined : 1435 

On that expending all her godlike power, 
She plans, provides, expatiates, triumphs, there : 
There builds her blessings ! there expects her praise j 
And nothing asks of Fortune or of men. 
And what is Reason ? be she thus defined ; 1440 

Reason is upright stature in the soul. 
Oil ! be a man, — ^^and strive to be a god. 

' For what ?' (thou say'st) to damp the joys of life ? 
No ; to give heart and substance to thy joys. 
That tyrant, Hope, mark how she domineers ; 1445 
She bids us quit realities for dreams, 
Safety and peace for hazard and alarm. 
That tyrant o'er the tyrants of the soul, 
She bids Ambition quit its taken prize, 
Spurn the luxuriant branch on which it sits, 1450 

Though bearing crowns, to spring at distant game, 
And plunge in toils and dangers — for repose. 
If hope precarious, and of things, when gain'd^ 
Of little moment and as little stay. 
Can sweeten tolls and dangers into joys ; 1455 

What then that hope which nothing can defeat, 
Our leave unask'd ? rich hope of boundless bliss ! 
Bliss past man's power to paint it. Time's to close ! 

This hope is earth's most estinicTole prize ; 
This is man's portion, while no more than man : 14C0 
Hope, of all passions, most befriends us here j 
Passions of prouder name befriends us less. 
Joy has her tears, and transport has her death.: 
15 



170 THE COMPLAINT n. vix, 

Hope, like a cordial, innocent though strong, 
Man's heart, at once, inspirits and serenes, 1465 

Nor makes him pay his wisdom for his joys : 
Tis all our present state can safely bear, 
Health to the frame ! and vigour to the mind ! 
A joy attemper'd ! a chastised delight ! 
Like the fair summer evening, mild and sweet ! 1470 
'Tis man's full cup, his paradise below ! 

A bless'd hereafter, then, or hoped or gain'd, 
Is all, — our whole of happiness ! full proof 
I chose no trivial or inglorious theme. 
And know, ye foes to song ! (well meaning men, 1475 
Though quite forgotten* half your Bible's praise !) 
Lnportant truths, in spite of verse, may please ; 
Grave minds you praise, nor can you praise too much 
If there is weight in an eternity, 

Let the grave listen, — and be graver still. 1480 

* The poetic parts of it. 



NIGHT VIII. 



Vittut'n ^pol022: 

OR, 

THE MAN OF THE WORLD ANSWERED. 

IN WHICH ARE CONSIDERED, 

THE LOVE OF THIS LIFE; THE AMBITION AND 

PLEASURE, WITH THE WIT AND WISDOM, 

OF THE WORLD. 

And has all Nature, then, espoused my part ? 

Have I bribed Heaven and Earth to plead against thee .•" 

And is thy soul immortal ?~What remains ? 

All, all, Lorenzo ! — make immortal bless'd. 

Unbless'd immortals ! — what can shock us more .-* 5 

And yet Lorenzo still affects the world ; ^ 

There stows his treasure ; thence his title draws, 

Man of the world ! (for such wouldst thou be call'd) 

And art thou proud of that inglorious style ? 

I'roud of reproach ? for a reproach it was, 10 

In ancient days, and Christian, — in an age 

When men were men, and not ashamed of Heaven, — 

Fired their ambition, as it crown'd their joy ! 

Sprinkled with dews from the Castalian font, 

Fain would I rebaptize thee, and confer 15 

A purer spirit, and a nobler name. 

Thy fond attachments, fatal and inflamed, 
Point out my path, and dictate to my song. 
To thee the world how fair ! how strongly strikes 
Ambition ! and gay Pleasure stronger still ! 20 

Thy triple bane I the triple bolt, that lays 
Thy virtue dead ; be these my triple theme ; 
IVor shall thy wit or wisdom be forgot. 

Common the theme ; not so the sciag, if she 



i:2 THE COMPLAINT. k.viii. 

My song invokes, Urania ! deigns to smile. 25 

The charm that chains us to the world, her foe, 
If she dissolves, the man of earth, at once, 
Starts from his trance, and sighs for other scenes ; 
Scenes, where these sparks of night, these stars, shall 

shine 
Unnumber'd suns (for all things, as they are, 80 

The bless'd behold,) and, in one glory, pour 
Their blended blaze on man's astonish'd sight >. 
A blaze — the least illustrious object there. 

Lorenzo ! since Eternal is at hand. 
To swallow Time's ambitions ; as the vast 85 

Leviathan the bubbles vain that ride 
High on the foaming billow ; what avail 
High titles, high descent, attainments high, 
If unattain'd our highest .-* O Lorenzo ! 
What lofty thoughts, these elements above, 40 

What towering h6pes, what sallies from the Sun, 
What grand surveys of destiny divine. 
And pompous presage of unfathom'd fate. 
Should roll in bosoms where a spirit burns. 
Bound for Eternity ! in bosoms read 45 

lly Him, who foibles in archangels sees ! 
On human hearts he bends a jealous eye. 
And marks, and in Heaven's register enrols, 
nie rise and prcJgress of each option there ; 
Sacred to Doomsday ! that the page unfolds, 50 

And spreads us to the gaze of gods and men. 

And what an option, O Lorenzo ! thine ! 
This world ! and this, unrival'd by the skies ! 
A world where lust of pleasure, grandeur, gold, 
Three demons that divide its realms between'thcm, 55 
With strokes alternate buffet to and fro 
Man's restless heart, their sport, their flying ball ; 
Till, with the giddy circle sick and tired. 
It pants for peace, and drops into despair. *" 
Such is the world Lorenzo sets above ' 60 

That glorious promise angels were esteem'd 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 1^3 

Too mean to bring ; a promise their Adored 
Descended to communicate, and press, 
By counsel, miracle, life, death, on man. 
Such is the world Lorenzo's wisdom woos, 65 

And on its thorny pillow seeks repose ; 
A pillow which, like opiates ill prepared, 
Intoxicates, but not composes ; fills 
The visionary mind with gay chimeras, 
All the wild trash of sleep, witliout the rest : 70 

What unfeign'd travel, "nd what dreams of joy ! 

How frail men, things ! how momentary, both ! 
Fantastic chase, of shadows hunting shades! 
The gay, the busy, equal, though unlike ; 
Equal in wisdom, differently wise ! 75 

Through flowery meadows, and through dreary wastes, 
One bustling, and one dancing, into death. 
There's not a day but, to the man of thought, 
Betrays some secret that throws new reproach 
On life, and makes him sick of seeing more. 80 

The scenes of business tell us — ' What are men ;' 
The scenes of pleasure — ' What is all beside :' 
There others we despise ; and here ourselves. 
Amid disgust eternal dwells delight ? — 
'Tis approbation strikes the string of joy. S^ 

What wondrous prize has kindled this career, 
Stuns with the din, and chokes us with tlje dust, 
On Life's gay stage, one inch above the grave ? 
The proud run up and down in quest of eyes ; 
The sensual, in pursuit of something worse ; 90 

The grave, of gold ; the politic, of power; 
And all, of other butterflies as vain ! 
As eddies draw things frivolous and light, 
How is man's heart by vanity drawn in ! 
On the swift circle of returning toys 95 

Whirl'd, strawlikc, round and round, and then ingulfd, 
Where gay delusion darkens to despair ! 

' This is a beaten track.' — Is this a track 
Should not be beaten ? never boat enougli, 
15 « 



174 THE COMPLAINT. n. viir. 

Till enough learn'd the truth it would inspire. 100 

Shall Truth be silent because Folly frowns ? 

Turn the world's history, what find we there 

But Fortune's sports, or Nature's cruel claims, 

Or woman's artifice, or man's revenge, , 

And endless inhumanities, on man ? 105 

Fame's trumpet seldom sounds but, like the knell, 

It brings bad tidings : how it hourly blows 

Man's misadventures round the listening world ! 

Man is the tale of narrative old Time : 

Sad tale ! Which high as Paradise begins ; 110 

As if, the toil of travel to delude, 

From stage to stage, in his eternal round, 

The Days, his daughters, as they spin our hours 

On Fortune's wheel, where accident unthought 

Oft, in a moment, snaps life's strongest thread, 115 

Each, in her turn, some tragic story tells 

With, now and then, a wretched farce between, 

And fills his chronicle with human woes. 

Time's daughters, true as those of men, deceive us ; 
Not one but puts some cheat on all mankind. 1.20 

While in their father's bosom, not yet ours, 
They flatter our fond hopes, and promise much 
Of amiable, but hold him not o'er wise 
Who dares to trust them, and laugh round the year, 
At still confiding, still confounded, man, 125 

Confiding though confounded ; hoping on, 
Untaught by trial, unconvinced by proof, 
And ever looking for the never seen. 
Tjife to the last, like harden'd felons, lies, 
Nor owns itself a cheat till it expires : 130 

Its little joys go out by one and one, 
And leave poor man, at length, in perfect night , 
Night darker than what now involves the pole. 

O Thou, who dost permit these ills to fall 
For gracious ends, and wouldst that man should mourn} 
O Thou, whose hands this goodly fabric framed, 136 
Who-knov.-'st it best. and wouldst that man should know! 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 17$ 

What is this sublunary world ? a vapour ; , 

A vapour all it holds ; itself, a vapour ; 

From the damp bed of Chaos, by the beam 

Exhaled, ordain'd to swim its destined hour 

In ambient air, then 'melt and disappear. 

Earth's days are number'd, nor remote her doom ; 

As mortal, though less transient, than her sons ; 

Yet they dote on her, as the world and they 145 

Were both eternal, solid ; Thou a dream. 

They dote, on what ? immortal views apart, 
A region of outsides ! a land of shadows ! 
A fruitful field of flowery promises ! 
A wilderness of jvoys ! perplex'd with doubts, 150 

And sharp with thorns ! a troubled ocean, spread 
With bold adventurers, their all on board ; 
No second hope, if here their fortune frowns ; 
Frown soon it must. Of various rates they sail, 
Of ensigns various ; all alike in this, 15a 

All restless, anxious, toss'd with hopes and fears 
In calmest skies ; obnoxious all to storm, 
And stormy the most general blast of life : 
All bound for Happiness ; yet few provide 
The chart of Knowledge, pointing where it Jies. 
Or Virtue's helm, to shape the course design'd ' 
All, more or less, capricious Fate lament, 
Now lifted by the tide, and now resorb'd, 
And farther from their wishes than before : 
All, more or less, against each othef dash, 165 

To mutual hurt, by gusts of passion driven. 
And suffering more from folly than from fate. 

Ocean ! thou dreadful and tumultuous home 
Of dangers, at eternal war v/ith man ! 
Death's capital, where most he domineers. 170 

With all his chosen terrors frowning round. 
(Though lately foasted high at Albion's cost*) 
Wide opening, and loud roaring still for'more ' 
Too faithful mirror ! how dost thou refleci 
* Admiral Balchen, &c 



17G THE COMPLAINT. .>. vni. 

The melancholy face of human life ! 175 

The strong resemblance tempts me farther still : 
And, haply, Britain may be deeper struck 
By moral truth, in such a mirror seen, 
Which Nature holds for ever at her eye. 

Sclf-flatter'd, unexperienced, high in hope, 180 

When young, with sanguine cheer and streamers gay, 
We cut our cable, launch into the world, 
And fondly dream each wind and star our friend ; 
All in some darling enterprise embark'd : 
But where is he can fathom its event ? < 185 

Amid a multitude of artless hands, 
Ruin's sure perquisite ! her lawful prize ! 
Some steer aright, but the black blast blows hard, 
And puffs them wide of Hope : wilh hearts of proof, 
Full against wind and tide, some win their way, 190 
And when strong Eftbrt has deserved the port, 
And tuggd it into view, 'tis won ! 'tis lost ! 
Tiiough strong their oar, still stronger is their fate : 
'i'hey strike I and, while they triumph, they expire, 
in stress of weather most, some sink outright ; 195 
<>er them and o'er their names the billows close ; 
To-morrow knows not they were ever born. 
Others a short memorial leave behind, 
Like a flag floating, when the bark's ingulf'd ; 
It floats a moment, and is seen no more. 200 

One Ccesar lives ; a thousand are forgot. 
How few, beneath auspicious planets born, 
(Darlings of Providence ! fond Fate's elect !) 
With swelling sails make good the promised port, 
W^ith all their wis])es freighted ! yet e'en these, 205 
Freighted with all their wishes, soon complain ; 
Free from misfortune, not from Nature free, 
They still are men ; and wlicn is man secure ? 
As fatal time, as storm ! the rush of years 
Beats down their strength; tlieir numberless escapes 
Jn ruin end. And now their proud success 211 

Bat plants new terrors On the victor's brow v . 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 172 

What pain to quit the world, just made their own, 
Their nest so deeply down'd, and built so high ! 
Too low they build who build beneath the stars. 215 

Woe then apart (if woe apart can be 
From mortal man,) and Fortune at our nod, 
The gay ! rich ! great ! triumphant ! and august ! 
What are they ? — The most happy (strange to say) 
Convince me most of human misery. 220 

What are they ? smiling wretches of to-morrow ! 
More wretched, then, than e'er their slave can be, 
Their treacherous blessings, at the day of need, 
Like other faithless friends, unmask and sting : 
Then what provoking indigence in wealth ! 225 

What aggravated impotence in power ! ' 
High titles, then, what insult of their pain! 
If that sole anchor, equal to the waves, 
Immortal Hope ! defies not the rude storm, 
Takes comfort from the foaming billow's rage, 230 
And makes a welcome harbour of the tomb. 

Is this a sketch of what thy soul admires ? — 
' But here (thou sayest) the miseries of life 
Are huddled in a group : a more distinct 
Survey, perhaps, might bring thee better news.' 235 
Look on life's stages ; they speak plainer still ; 
Tlie plainer the}'-, the deeper wilt thou sigh. 
Ijook on thy lovely boy ; in him behold 
The best that can beful the best on earth ; 
The boy has virtue by his mother's side : 240 

Yes, on Florello look : a father's heart 
Is tender, though the man's is made of stone ; 
The truth, through such a medium seen, may make 
Impression deep, and fondness prove thy friend. 

Florello ! lately cast on this rude coast 241 

A helpless infant, now a heedless child. 
To poor Clarissa's throes thy care succeeds ; 
Care full of love, and yet severe as hate ! 
O'er thy soul's joy how oft thy fondness frowns ' 
Needful austerities his will restrain, 250 



378 THE COMPLAINT. n. 

As thorns fence in the tender plant from hafrh. 

As yet, his Reason cannot go alone, 

But asks a sterner nurse to lead it on. 

His little heart is often terrified ; 

The blush of morning, in his cheek, turns pale ; 

Its pearly dew-drop trembles m his eye, 

His harmless eye ! and drowns an angel there. 

Ah ! what avails his innocence ? the task 

Enjoin'd must discipline his early powers 1 

He learns to sigh, ere he is known to sin ; 

Guiltless, and sad ! a wretch before the fall ! 

How cruel this ! more cruel to forbear. 

Our nature such, with necessary pains 

We purchase prospects of precarious peace : 

Though not a father, this might steal a sigh. 

Suppose him disciplined aright (if not, 
'Twill sink our poor account to poorer still,) 
Ripe from the tutor, proud of liberty, 
He leaps enclosure, bounds into the world ; 
The world is taken, after ten years' toil, 
Like ancient Tro}'^, and all its joys his own. 
Alas ! the world's a tutor more severe. 
Its lesson?; hard, and ill deserve his pains ; 
Unteaching all his vii-tuous Nature taught. 
Or books (fair Virtue's advocates) inspired. 

For who receives him into public life ? 
Men of the world, the terrffi-filial breed, 
Welcome the modest stranger to their sphere 
(Which glitter'd long, at distance, in his sight,) 
And in their hospitable arms enclose ; 
Men who think nought so strong as the romance, 
So rank knight-errant, as a real friend ^ 
Men- that act up to Reason's golden rule, 
All weakness of affection quite subdued ; 
Men that would blush at being thought sincere. 
And feign, for glory, the few faults they want ; 
That love a lie, where truth would pay as well, 
As if. to them* Vice shown her own reward. 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 179 

Lorenzo ! canst thou bear a shocking sight ? 
Such, for Florello'fe sake, 'twill now appear. S90 

See the steel'd files of season'd veterans, 
Train'd to the world, in burnish'd falsehood bright ; 
Deep in the fatal stratagems of peace, 
All soft sensation, in the throng, rubb'd off; 
All their keen purpose in politeness sheath'd ; 295 

His friends eternal— during interest ; 
His foes implacable — when worth their while'; 
At war with every welfare but their own ', 
As wise as Lucifer, and half as good ; 
And by whom none, but Lucifer, can gain — 300 

Naked through these, (so common Fate ordains) 
Naked of heart, his cruel course he runs, 
Stung out of all most amiable in life, 
Prompt truth, and open thought, and smiles unfeign'd ; 
Affection, as his species wide diffused, 305 

Noble presumptions to mankind's renown, 
Ingenious trust, and confidence of love. 

These claims to joy (if mortals joy might claim) 
Will cost him man}' a sigh, till time and pains, 
From the slow mistress of this school, Experience, 310 
And her assistant, pausing, pale Distrust, ' 

Purchase a dear-bought clew to lead his youth 
Through serpentine obliquities of life, 
And the dark labyrinth of human hearts. ^ 
Andhapp}'^'. if the clew shall come so cheap. Sl5 

For while we learn to fence with public guilt, 
Full oft we feel its foul contagion too, 
If less than heavenly virtue is our guard. 
Thus a strange kind of cursed necessity 
Brings down the sterling temper of his soul, 320 

By base alloy, to bear the current stamp, 
Below call'd Wisdom ; sinks him into safety, 
And brands him into credit with the world. 
Where specious titles dignify disgrace, 
And Nature's injuries are arts of life ; 32.5 

Where brighter F»,eason prompts to bolder crimes, 



180 THE COMPLAINT. n viu 

And heavenly talents make infernal hearts, 
That unsurmountable extreme of guilt ! 

Poor Machiavel ! wlio labour'd hard his plan, 
Forgot that Genius need not go to school ; 330 

Forgot that man, without a tutor wise, 
His plan had practised long before 'twas writ. 
The world's all title-page ; there's no contents. 
The world's all face : the man who shows his heart 
Is hooted for his nudities, aud scorn'd. 335 

A man I knew, who lived upon a smile, 
And well it fed him ; he lock'd plump and fair, 
While rankest venom foam'd through every vein. 
(Lorenzo ! what I tell thee take not ill ;) 
Living, he fawn'd on every fool alive j 340 

And, dying, cursed the friend on whom he lived. 
To such proficients thou art half a saint ! 
In foreign realms (for thou hast travel'd far) 
How curious to contemplate two state rooks, 
Studious tlieir nests to feather in a trice, 345 

With all the necromantics of their art, 
Playing the game of faces on each other, 
Making court sweetmeats of their latent gall, 
In foolish hope to steal each other's trust ; 
Both cheating, both exulting, both deceived, 350 

And, sometimes, both (let earth rejoice) undone ! 
Their parts we doubt not, but be that their shame. 
Shall men of talents, fit to rule mankind, 
Stoop to mean wiles that would disgrace a fool ; 
And lose the thanks of those few friends they serve .'' 355 
For who can thank the man he cannot see ? 

Why so much cover ? it cWeats itself 
Ye that know all things ! knowuyc not men's hearts 
Are therefore known, because they are conceal'd ? 
For why conceal'd ? — the cause they need not tell. 360 
I give him joy that's awkward at a lie ; 
Whose feeble nature Truth keeps still in awe ;' 
His incapacity is his renown. 
'Tis great, 'tis manly, to disdain disguise; 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGr. 181 

It shd(\7s our spirit, or it proves our strength. 3Cu 

TlKJ^^ay'st 'tis needful ! is it therefore right f — 
Hovve'er, I grant it some small sign of grace 
To strain at an excuse : and wouidst thou, then, 
Escape that cruel need ? thou raayst with ease ; 
Think no post needful that demands a knave. 370 

V/hen late our civil helm was shifting hands, 
So Pelham thought : think better if you can. 

But this how rare ! the public path of life 
Is dirty : — ^yet allow that dirt its due. 
It makes tiie noble mind more noble still. 375 

The world 's no neuter ; it will wound or save ; 
Our virtue q^;ench, or indignation fire. 
You say the world, well known, will make a man. — 
The world, well known, will give our hearts to Heaven, 
Or make us demons, long before we die. 380 

To show how fair the world, thy mistress, shines. 
Take either part ; sure ills attend tlie choice ', 
Sure, though not equal, detriment ensues. 
Not Virtue's self is deified on earth ; 
Virtue has her relapses, conflicts, foes ; 385 

Foes that ne'er fail to make her feel their hate. 
Virtue has her peculiar set of pains. 
True friends to virtue, last and least complain ; 
But if they sigh, can others hope to smile ? 
If Wisdom has her miseries to mourn, 390 

How can poor Folly lead a happy life ? 
And if both suffer, what has earth to boast. 
Where he most happy who the least laments ? 
Where much, much patience, the most envied state, 
And some forgiveness, needs, the best of friends .'' 395 
For friend or hapny life, who looks not higher, 
Of neither shall he find the shadow here. 

The world's sworn advocate, without a fee, 
L«^renzo smartly, with a smile, replies : 
* Thus far thy song is right, and all must own 400 
Virtue has her peculiar set of pains : — 
And joys peculiar who to Vice denies .' 
1:6 



im THE COMPLAIK^r. If. ^Sit. 

If vice it is with Nature to comply : 

If pride and sense are so predominant, 

To chock, Rot overcome them, makes a saint, 4(J5 

Can Nature in a plainer voice proclaim 

Pleasure and glory the chief good of man ?' 

Can Pride and Sensuality rejoice ? ' 
From purity of thought all pleasure springs, 
And from an humble spirit all our peace. 410 

Ambition, Pleasure ! let us talk of these ; 
Of these the Porch and Academy talk'd ; 
Of these each following age had much to say, 
Yet unexhausted, still, the needful theme. 
Who talks of these, to mankind all at once 415 

He talks ; for where the saint from either free ? 
Are these thy refuge ? — No ; these rush upon thee, ' 
Thy vitals seize, and, vulture like, devour : 
I'll try if I can pluck thee from thy rock, 
Prometheus ! from this barren ball Ox earth, 420 

If Reason can unchain thee, thou art free. 

And first, thy Caucasus, Ambition, calls j 
Mountain of torments ! eminence of woes ! 
Of courted woes ! and courted through mistake ! 
Tis not ambition charms thee ; 'tis a cheat 425 

Will make thee start, as H at his Moor. 

Dost grasp at greatness ? first know what it is. 

Think'st thou thy greatness in distinction lies ? 

Not in the feather, wave it e'er so high, 

By Fortune stuck, to mark us from the throng, 430 

Is glory lodged : 'tis lodged in the reverse ; 

Is that which joins, in that which equals all, 

The monarch and his slave, — ' a deathless soul, 

Unbounded ptrospect, and immortal kin, 

A Father God, and brothers in the skies >' 435 

Elder, indeed, in time, but less remote 

In excellence, perhaps, than thought by man. 

Why greater what can fall than v.'hat can ri^e ? 

If still delirious, now, Lorenzo ! go, 
^d, with thy full blown brothers of the wor^d, 4^0 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 183 

'f hrow seorn around thee } cast it on thy slaves, 

Thy slaves and equals. How scorn cast on them 

Rebounds on thee ! If man is mean, as man, 

Art thou a god .'' if Fortune makes him so, 

Beware the consequence : a maxim that 449 

Which draws a monstrous picture of mankind, 

Where, in the drapery, the man is lost ; 

Externals fluttering, and the soul forgot. 

Thy greatest glory, when disposed to boast, 

Boast that aloud in which thy servants share, 41)0 

We wisely strip the steed we mean to buy. 
Judge we, in their comparisons, of men .'' 
I4 nought avails thee where, but what, thou art. 
All the distinctions of this little life 
Are quite cutaneous, foreign to the man. 455 

When through Death's straits Earth's subtle serpents 

creep. 
Which wriggle into wealth, or climb renown, 
As crooked Satan the forbidden tree, 
Tliey leave their party-colour'd robe behind, 
All that now glitters, while they rear aloft 4f»0 

Their brazen crests, and hiss at us below. 
Of Fortune's fucus strip them, yet alive, 
Strip them of body too ; nay, closer still. 
Away with all but moral in their minds. 
And let what then remains impose their name, 465 
Pronounce them weak or worthy, great or meau. 
How mean that snuff of glory Fortune lights. 
And Death puts out ! Dost thou demand a test, 
A test, at once, infallible and short, 
Of real greatness ? that man greatly lives, 470 

Whate'er his fate or fame, who greatly dies ; 
Hig;h flush'd with hope where heroes shall despair. 
If this a true criterion, many courts, 
Illustrious, might afford but few grandees. 

The' Almighty, from his throne, on earth surveys 
Nought greater than an honest, humble heart ; 4~f» 
An humble heart, his residence I pronowncfld 



184 THE COMPLAiriT. k. tik. 

His second seat, and rival to the skies. 

The private path, the secret acts of men, 

If noble, far the noblest of cur lives ! 480 

How far above Lorenzo's glory sits 

The' illustrious master of a name unknown? 

Whose worth, unrivard and unwitness'd, loves 

Life's sacred shades, v\'here gods converse with men, 

And peace, beyond the world's conceptions, smiles ; 

As thou (now dark) before we part shalt see. 46G 

But th}' great soul this skulking glory scorns : 
Lorenzo's sick but when Lorenzo's seen. 
And when he shrugs at public business lies. 
Denied the public eye, the public voice, 400 

As if he lived on others' breath, he dies. 
Fain would he make the world his pedestal, 
Mankind the gazers, the sole figure he. 
Knows he, that mankind praise against their wiD, 
And mix as much detraction as they can ? 495 

Knows he, that faithless Fame her whisper has, 
As well as trumpet .'* that his vanity 
Is so much tickled, from not hearing all ? 
Knows this all knower, that from itch of praise. 
Or from an itch more sordid, when he shines, 500 
Taking his country by five hundred ears, 
Sedatos at once admire him and despise, 
With modest laughter lining loud applause, 
Whicli makes the- smile more mortal to his fame .-' 
His fame which (like the mighty Ccesar) crown'd 505 
With laurels, in full senate, greatly falls, 
By seeming friends, that honour and destroy. ' 
We rise in glory as we sink in pride -. 
Where boasting ends, there dignity begins ; 
And yet, mistaken beyond all mistake, 510 

The blind Lorenzo's proud — of being proud. 
And dreams himself ascending, in his fall. 

An eminence, though fancied, turns the brain ; 
All vice wants hellebore ; but of all vice 
Pride loudest calls, and for the largest bowl ; 515 



TIllT UES APOLOGY. S3 

iJccausc, unlike all other vice, it files, 
In fact, the point in fancy most pursued. 
Who court applause oblige the world in this ; 
They gratify man's passion to refuse. 
Superior honour, when assumed, is lost : 520 

E'en good men turn banditti, and rejoice, 
Like Kouli-Kan, in plunder of the proud. 

Though somewhat disconcerted, steady still 
To the world's cause ; with half a face of joy, 
Lorenzo cries, — ' Be, then. Ambition cast ; 525 

Ambition's dearer far stands unimpeach'd, 
Gay Pleasure ! proud Ambition is her slave ; 
For her he soars at great, and hazards ill ; 
For her he fights, and bleeds, or overcomes, 529 

And paves his way, with crowns, to reach her smile. 
Who can resist her charms .'" — Or should ? Lorenzo '. 
What mortal shall resist where angels yield ? 
Pleasure's the mistress of ethereal powers ; 
For her contend the rival gods above ; 
Pleasure's the mistress of the world below, 535 

And well it is for man that Pleasure charms , 
How would all stagnate but for Pleasure's ray ! 
How would the frozen stream of action cease ! 
What is the pulse of this so busy world ? 
The love of pleasure : that, through every vein, 540 
Throws motion, warmth, and shuts out death from life. 

Though various are the tempers of mankind, 
Pleasure's gay family holds all in chains. 
Some most affect the black, and some the fair ; 
Some honest pleasure court, and some obscene. 545 
Pleasures obscene are various, as the throng 
Of passions that can err in human hearts|# 
Mistake their objects, or transgress their ^'unds. 
Think you there's but one whoredom ? whoredom a*. 
But when our reason licenses delight. 55' 

Dost doubt, Lorenzo ? — thou shalt doubt no mora. 
Thy father chides thy gallantries, yet hufrs 
An ug^y. common harlot in tJie da^k^ 
iO. * 



56Cx THE COMPLAmT. n. v.. 

A rank adulterer with others' gold ; 

And that hag, Vengeance, in a corner chaarms 555 

Hatred her brother has, as well as Love, 

Where horrid epicures debauch in blood. 

Whate'er the motive, Pleasure is the mark : 

For her the black assassin draws his sword ; 

For her dark statesmen trim their midnight lamp, 560 

To which no single sacrifice may fall ; 

For her the saint abstams, the miser starves ; 

The stoic proud, for Pleasure, pleasure scorn'd ; 

For her Affliction's daughters grief indulge, 

And find, or hope, a luxury in tears ; 565 

For her guilt, shame, toil, danger, we defy, 

And, with an aim voluptuous, rush on death : 

Thus universal her despotic power ! 

And as her empire wide, her praise is just. 
Patron of Pleasure ! Doter on delight ! 570 

I am thy rival ; pleasure I profess ; 
Pleasure the purpose of my gloomy song. 
Pleasure is nought but Virtue's gayer name ; 
i wrong her still, I rate her worth too low : 
Virtue the root, and pleasure is the flower ; 575 

And honest Epicurus' foes were fools. 

But this sounds harsh, and gives the wise offence, 
If o'erstrain'd wisdom still retains the name. 
How knits Austerity her cloudy brow, 
And blames, as bold and hazardous, the praise 580 
Of pleasure, to mankind unpraised, too dear ! 
Ye modern stoics ! hear my soft reply ; 
Their senses men will trust : we can't impose, 
Or, if we could, is imposition right ^ 
Own hone^weet ; but, owning, add this sting, 585 
* When mixV with poison it is deadly too.' 
Truth never was indebted to a lie. 
Is nought but virtue to be praised as good ? 
Why then is health prefcrr'd before disease ? 
What Nature loves is good, without our leave ', 590 
Awd where no future drawback cries, '■ BewarC;' 



VIRTUES APOLO.GV. 167 

Pleasure, though not from virtue, should prevail : 
*Tis bahn to life, and gratitude to Keaven. 
How cold our thanks for bounties unenjoy'd ! 
The love of pleasure is man's eldest born, 595 

Born in his cradle, living to his tomb ; 
Wisdom, her younger sister, though more grave, 
Was meant to minister, and not to mar, 
Imperial Pleasure, queen of human hearts. 

Lorenzo ! thou, her majesty's renown'd, 609 

Though uncoift counsel, learned in the world ! 
Who think'st thyself a Murray, with disdain 
Mayst look on me : yet, my Deniosthenes ! 
Canst thou plead Pleasure's cause as well as I ? 
Know'st thou her nature, purpose, parentage ? 605 
Attend my song, and thou shalt know them all ; 
And know thyself; and know thyself to be 
(Strange truth !) the most abstemious man alive. 
Tell not Calista, she will laugh thee dead, 

Or send thee to her hermitage with L . 010 

Absurd presumption ! thou, who never knew'st 

A serious thought ! shalt thou dare dream of joy ? 

No man e'er found a happy life by chance, 

Or yawn'd it into being with a wish : 

Or with a snout of grovelling Appetite 615 

E'er smelt it out, and grubb'd it from the dirt. 

An art it is, and must be learnd ; and learn'd 

With unremitting effort, or be lost. 

And leaves us perfect blockheads in f»ur bliss. 

The clouds may drop d wn titles ano estates ; 620 

W ialth may seek us ; but Wisdom must be sought ; 

Sought before all ; but (how unlike all else 

We seek on earth !) 'tis never sought in vain. [see : 

First, Pleasure's birth, rise, strength, and grandeur, 
Brought forth by Wisdom, nursed by Discipline, 625 
By Patience taught, by Perseverance crown'd, 
She rears her head majestic ; round her thronej 
Erected in the bosom of the just, 
Each virtue, listed, forms her manly guard. 



1S8 THE COMPLAINT, if. vui. 

For what are virtues ? (formidable name !) 630 

What but the fountain or defence of joy ? 

Why then commanded ? need mankind commands, 

At once to merit and to make their bliss ! — 

Great Legislator ! scarce so great as kind 

If men are rational, and love delight, 635 

Thy gracious law but flatters human choice : 

In the transgression lies the penalty ; 

And they the most indulge who most obey. 

Of Pleasure, next, the final cause explore ; 
Its mighty purpose, its important end. C40 

Not to turn human brutal, but to build 
Divine on human, Pleasure came from Heaven : 
In aid to Reason was the goddess sent, 
To call up all its strength by such a charm. 
Pleasure, first, succours Virtue } in return, 645 

Virtue gives Pleasure an eternal reign. 
What but the pleasure of food; friendship, faithj 
Supports life natural, civil, and divine ^ 
'Tis from the pleasure of repast we live ; 
'Tis from the pleasure of applause we please ; 650 
'Tis from the pleasure of belief we pray 
(All prayer would cease, if unbelieved the prize ;) 
It serves ourselves, our species, and our God ; 
And to serve more is past the sphere of man. 
Glide then, for ever, Pleasure's sacred stream ! 655 
Through Eden, as Euphrates ran, it runs, 
And fosters every growth of happy life ; 
Makes a new Eden where it flows, — but such 
As must be lost, Lorenzo ! by thy fall. 

' What mean I by thy fall ?'— Thou'lt shortly see 660 
While Pleasure's nature is at large display'd, 
Already sung her origin and ends : 
Those glorious ends by kind, or by degree, 
When Pleasure violates, 'tis then a vice, 
And vengeance too ; it hastens into pain. 665 

From due refreshment life, health, reason, joy ; 
From wild excess p^, grief, distiaction, death^; 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 1S9 

Heaven's justice this proclaims, and that her love. 
What greater evil can I wish my foe, 
Than this full draught of pleasure from a cask 670 
Unbroach'd by just authorily, ungaged 
By temperance, by reason unrefined ? 
A thousand demons lurk within the lee. 
Heaven, others, and ourselves ! uninjured these, 
Drink deep ; the deeper, then, the more divine : 675 
Angels are angels from indulgence there. 
'Tis unrepenting pleasure makes a god ! 

Dost think thyself a god from other joys .'* 
A victim rather ! shortly, sure to bleed. [fail ? 

The wrong must mourn. Can Heaven's appointments 
Can man outwit omnipotence .'' strike out 681 

A self-wrought happiness, unmeant by Him 
Who made us, and the world we would enjoy ? 
Who forms an instrument ordains from whence 
Its dissonance or harmony shall rise. 685 

Heaven bid the soul this mortal frame inspire ; 
Bid Virtue's ray divine inspire the soul 
With unprecarious flows of vital joy ; 
And without breathing man as well might hope 
For life, as, without piety, for peace. 690 

' Is virtue, then, and piety the same .'' — 
No ; piety is more ; 'tis Virtue's source, 
Mother of every worth, as that of joy. 
Men of the world this doctrine ill digest ; 
They smile at piety, yet boast aloud 695 

' Good will to men,' nor know they strive to part 
What Nature joins, and thus confute themselves. 
With piety begins all good on earth ; 
'Tis the first born of Rationality ! 
Conscience, her first law broken, wounded lies ; 700 
Enfeebled, lifeless, impotent to good. 
A feign'd affection bounds her utmost power. * 

Some we cant love, but for the' Almighty's sake ; 
A foe to God was ne'er true friend to man. 



190 THE COMPLAINT. if. vin. 

Some sinister intent taints all he does, 705 

And in his kindest actions he's unkind. 

On piety humanity is built, 
And on humanity much happiness ; 
And yet still more on piety itself. 
A soul in commerce with her God is heaven ; 710 
Feels not the tumults and the shocks of life, 
The whirls of passions, and the strokes of heart. 
A Deity believed, is joy begun : 
A Deity adored, is joy advanced ; 
A Deity beloved, is joy matured ! 715 

Each branch of piety delight inspires ; 
Faith builds a bridge from this world to the next, 
O'er Death's dark gulf, and all its horror hides : 
Praise, the sweet exhalation of our joy, 
That joy exalts, and makes it svreeter still : 720 

Prayer ardent opens Heaven, lets down a stream 
Of glory on the consecrated hour 
Of man in audience with the Deity ! 
Who worships the great God, that instant join5 
The first in heaven, and sets his foot on hell. 725 

Lorenzo ! when wast thou at church before .'' 
Thou think'st the service long : but is it just .'' — 
Though just, unwelcome. Thou hadst rather tread 
Unhallow'd ground : the Muse, to win thine ear. 
Must take an air less solemn. She complies. 730 

Good Conscience ! at the sound the world retires ; 
Verse disaflects it, and Lorenzo smiles ; 
Yet has she her seraglio full of charms. 
And such as age shall heighten, not impair. 
Art thou dejected ^ is thy mind o'ercast .'* 735 

Amid her fair ones thou the fairest choose 
To chase thy gloom. — ' Go, fix some weighty truth ; 
Chain down some passion ; do some generous good ; 
Teach Ignorance to see, or Grief to smile ; 
Correct thy friend ; befriend thy greatest foe ; 740 
Or, with warm heart and confidence divine. 



\1RTUES APOLOGt. 191 

Spring up, and lay strong hold on Him who made thee.^ 
Thy gloom is scatter'd, sprightly spirits flow, 
Though wither'd is thy vine, and >'arp unstrung. 

Dost call the bowl, the viol, and tne dance, 745 

Loud mirth, and laughter ? Wretched comforters! 
Physicians ! more than half of thy disease ! 
Laughter, though never censured yet as sin, 
(Pardon a thought that only seems severe) 
Is half-immortal, is it much indulged. 750 

By venting spleen, or dissipating thought, 
It shows a scorner, or it makes a fool, 
And sins ; as hurting others, or ourselves. 
'Tis pride, or emptiness, applies the straw 
That tickles little minds to mirth effiise ; 755 

Of grief approaching the portentous sign ! 
The house of laughter makes a house of woe 
A man triumphant is a monstrous sight ; 
A man dejected is a sight as mean. 
What cause for triumph, where such ills abound .'' 760 
What for dejection, where presides a Power 
AVho call'd us into being — to be bless'd ? 
So grieve, as conscious grief may rise to joy 
So joy, as conscious joy to grief may fall. 
Most true, a wise man never will be sad ; 765 

But neither Vv'ill sonorous, bubbling mirth, 
A shallow stream of happiness betray ; 
Too happy to be sportive, he's serene. 

Yet wouldst thou laugh (but at thy own expense) 
This counsel strange should I presume to give — 770 
* Retire, and read thy Bible, to be gay.' 
There truths abound of sovereign aid to peace : 
Ah ! do not prize them less because inspired, 
As thou and thine are apt and proud to do. 
If not inspired, that pregnant page had stood, 775 

Time's treasure ! and the wonder of the wise ! 
Thou think'st, perhaps, thy soul alone at stake 
Alas ! — should men mistake thee for a fool ; — 
What mjiu of taste for genius, wisd'oni; trtt^Hy 



192 THE COMPLAINT. N.viir. 

Though lender of thy fame, could interpose ? 780 

Believe me, sense, here, acts a double part, 
And the true critic is a Christian too. 

But these, thou think'st, are gloomy paths to joy. 
True joy in sunshine ne'er was found at first. 
They first themselves offend who greatly please, 785 
And travel only gives us sound repose. 
Heaven sells all pleasure ; effort is the price. 
The joys of conquest are the joys of man ; 
And Glory the victorious laurel spreads 
O'er Pleasures pure, perpetual, placid stream. 790 

There is a time when toil must be preferred, 
Or joy, by mistimed fondness, is undone. 
A man of pleasure is a man of pains. 
Thou wilt not take the trouble to be bless'd. 
False joys, indeed, are born from want of thought ; 705 
From thought's full bent and energy the true ; 
And that demanrls a mind in equal poise, 
Remote from gloomy grief and glaring joy. 
Much joy not only speaks small happiness, 
But happiness that shortly must expire. 800 

Caffi joy, unbottom'd in reflection, stand .'' 
And, in a tempest, can reflection live ^ 
Can joy, like thine, secure itself an hour .'' 
Can joy, like thine, meet accident unshock'd .'' 
Or ope the door to honest Poverty .? 805 

Or talk with threatening Death, and not turn pale ? 
In such a world, and such a nature, these 
Are needful fundamentals of delight : 
These fundamentals give delight indeed ; 
Delight pure, delicate, and durable ; 810 

Delight unshaken, masculine, divine ; 
A constant and a sound, but serious joy. 

Is Jcy the daughter of Severity ^ 
It is : — j^et far my doctrine from severe. 
* Rejoice for ever :' it becomes a man ; 815 

Exalts, and sets him nearer to the gods. 
' Rejoice for ever (Nature cries.) Bcjoice 1' 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 193 

And drinks to man in her nectareous cup, 

Mix'd up of delicates for every sense f 

To the great Founder of the bounteous feast 820 

Drinks glory, gratitude, eternal praise ; 

And he that wfll not pledge her is a churl. 

Ill firmly to support, good fully taste, 

Is the whole science of felicity : 

Yet, sparing, pledge ; her bowl is not the best 825 * 

Mankind can boast. — ' A rational repast, 

Exertion, vigilance, a mind in arms, 

A military discipline of thought, 

To foil temptation in the doubtful field. 

And ever- waking ardour for the right.' 830 

'Tis these first give, then guard a cheerful heart. 

Nought, that is right, think little ; well aware 

What Reason bids, God bids : by his command 

How aggrandized the smallest thing we do ! 

Thus nothing is insipid to the wise ; 835 

To thee insipid all but what is mad, 

Joys season'd high, and tasting strong of guilt. 

. * Mad ! (thou reply'st, with indignation fired) 

Of ancient sages proud to tread the steps, 

I follow Nature.'— Follow Nature still, 840 

But look it be thine own. Is Conscience, then, 

No part of Nature ? is she not supreme .■* 

Thou regicide ! O raise her from the dead ! 

Then follow Nature, and resemble God. 

When, spite of conscience, pleasure is pursued, 845 
Man's nature is unnaturally pleased ; 
And what's unnatural is painful too 
At intervals, and must disgust e'en thee ! 
The fact thou know'st ; but not, perhaps, the cause. 
Virtue's foundations with the world's were laid : 850 
Heaven mix'd her with our make, and twisted close 
Her sacred interests with the strings of life : 
Who breaks her awful mandate shocks himself, 
His better self: and is it greater pain 
17 



194 THE COMPLAINT. k. virr. 

Our soul should murmur, or our dust repine ? 855 

And one, in their eternal war, must bleed. 

If one must suffer, which should least be spared .-' 
The pains of mind surpass the pains of sense : 
Ask, then, the Gout, v.'hat torment is in guilt ? — 
The jojF of eense to mental joys are mean : 860 

Sense on the present only feeds : the soul 
On past and future forages for joy : 
'Tis hers, by retrospect, through time to range, 
And forward Time's great sequel to survey. 
Could human courts take vengeance on the mind, 865 
Axes might rust, and racks and gibbets fall. 
Guard then thy mind, and leave the rest to Fate ! 

Lorenzo ! wilt thou never be a man ? 
The man is dead who for the body lives, 
Lured by the beating of his pulse, to list 870 

With every lust that wars against his peace, 
And sets him quite at variance with himself. 
Thyself first know, then love : a self there is, 
Of virtue fond, that kindles at her charms : 
A self there is, as fond of every vice, 875 

While every virtue wounds it to the heart; 
Humility degrades it. Justice robs, 
Bless'd Bounty beggars it, fair Truth betrays, 
And godlike Magnanimity destroys. 
This self, when rival to the former, scorn ; 880 

When not in competition, kindly treat, 
Defend it, feed it : — but when Virtue bids, 
Toss it or to the fowls or to the flames. 
And why ? 'tis love of pleasure bids thee bleed : 
Comply, or own self-love extinct, or blind. 885 

For what is vice ? — Self-love in a mistake : 
A poor blind merchant buying joys too dear. 
And virtue what .'' 'tis Self-love in her wits, 
Quite skilful in the market of delight. 
Self-love's good sense is love of that dread Power 890 
From whom herself, and all she can enjoy. 



VIRTUE'S APOT.OGY. 195 

Other self-love is but disguised 'self-hate, 

More mortal than the malice of our foes ; 

A self-hate now scarce fcl+, than felt fall sore, 

When being cursed, ezti Tction loud implored, 895 

And every thing preferr'd to what we are. 

Yet this self-love Lorenzo makes his choice, 
And, in this choice triumphant, boasts of joy, 
How is his want of happiness betray 'd 
By disaffection to the present hour ! 900 

Imagination v/anders far a-iield ; 
The future pleases : why ? tl:e present pains. — 
' But that's a recret. — Yes, which all men know, 
And know from tl ee, discovered unawares. 
Thy ceaseless agitation restless rolls 90S 

From cheat to cheat, impatient of a pause. 
What is it ? — 'Tis the cradle of the soul, 
From Instinct sent, to rock her in disease, 
Which her physician. Reason, will not cure. 
A poor expedient ! yet thy best ; and while 910 

It mitigates thy pain, it owns it too. 

Such are Lorenzo's wretched remedies ! 
The weak have remedies, the wise have joys. 
Superior wisdom is superior bliss. 
And v/hat sure mark distinguishes the wise ? 915 

Consistent Wisdom evei wills the same ; 
Thy fickle wish is ever on the wing. 
Sick of herself is Folly's character, 
As Wisdom's is a modest self-applause. 
A chan<je of evils is thy good supreme, 920 

Nor but in motion canst thou find thy rest. 
Man's greatest strength is shown in standing stijl. 
The first sure symptom of a mind in health 
Is rest of heart, and pleasure felt at home. 
False Pleasure from abroad her joys imports ; 92S 

Rich from within, and self-sustain 'd, the true. 
The true is fix'd and solid as a rock ; 
Slippery the false, and tossing, as the wave. 
This a wild wanderer on earth, like Cain ; 



106 THE COMPLAINT. n. viii. 

That like the fabled, self-enamour'd bo}', 930 

Home contemplation her supreme delight : 
She dreads an interruption from without, 
Srait with her own condition, and the more 
Intense she gazes, still it charms the more. 

No man is happy till he thinks on earth 935 

There breathes not a more happy than himself: 
Then envy dies, and love o'erflows on all ; 
And love oerflowing makes an angel here. 
Such angels all, entitled to repose 939 

On Him who governs fate. Though tempest frowns, 
Though Nature shakes, how soft to lean on Heaven ! 
To lean on Him on whom archangels lean ! 
With inward eyes, and silent as the grave, 
They stand collecting every beam of thought, 
Till their hearts kindle wuth divine delight ; 945 

For all their thoughts, like angels, seen of old 
In Israel's dream, come from, and go to heaven j 
Hence are they studious of sequester'd scenes, 
While noise and dissipation comfort thee. 

Were all men happy, rcvellings would cease, 950 
That opiate for inquietude within. 
Lorenzo ! never man was truly bless'd, 
But it composed and gave him such a cast, 
As Folly might mistake for want of joy; 
A cast, unlike the triumph of the proud ; 955 

A modest aspect, and a smile at heart. 
O for a joy from thy Pliilander's spring ! 
A spring perennial, rising in the breast, 
And permanent as pure ! no turbid stream 
Of rapturous exultation, swelling high, 960 

Which, like land-floods, impetuous pour a while, 
Then sink at once, and leave us in the mire. 
What does the man who transient joy prefers .'* 
What, but prefer the bubbles to the stream .'' 

Vain arc all sudden sallies of delight, 965 

Convulsions of a weak distemper'd joy. 
Joy's a fix'd state ; a tenour, not a start. 



VIRTUES APOLOGY. VJii 

Bliss there is- none but unprecarious bliss : 
That is the gem : sell all, and purchase that. 
Why go a-begging to contingencies, 970 

Not gain'd with ease, nor safely loved, if gairi'd ? 
At good fortuitous draw back, and pause ; 
Suspect it ; what thou canst ensure, enjoy ; 
And nought, but what thou givest thyself, is sure. 
Reason perpetuates joy that Reason gives, 975 

And makes it as immortal as herself: 
To mortals, nought immortal, but their worth. 

Worth, conscious Worth ! should absolutely reign, 
And other joys ask leave for their approach, 
Nor, unexamined, ever leave obtain. 980 

Thou art all anarchy ; a mob of joys 
Wage war, and perish in intestine broils j 
Nor the least promise of internal peace ! 
No bosom-comfort ! or unborrow'd bliss ! 
Thy thoughts are vagabonds ; all outward-bound, 985 
Mid sands, and rocks, and storms, to cruise for pleasure ; 
If gain'd, dear-bought : and better miss'd than gain'd. 
Much pain must expiate what much pain procured, 
Fancy and Sense, from an infected shore, 
Thy cargo bring, and pestilence the prize, 990 

Then such thy thirst, (insatiable thirst, 
By fond indulgence but inflamed the more) 
Fancy still cruises, when poor Sense is tired. 

Imagination is the Paphian shop 
Where feeble Happiness, like Vulcan, lame, 995 

Bids foul ideas, in their dark recess. 
And hot as hell (which kindled the black fires) 
With wanton art, those fatal arrows form, 
Which murder all thy time, health, v/ealth, and fame. 
Wouldst thou receive them, other thoughts there are 
On angel-wing, descending from above ; 1001 

Which these, with art divine, would counter-work, 
And form celestial armour for thy peace. 

In this is seen Imagination's guilt ; 
17* 



393 THE CO.^IPLALXT. n-. viit 

J3ut who can count her folUcs ? she betrays thee, 1005 

To think in grandeur there is something great. 

For works of curious art, and ancient fame, 

Thy genius hungers, elegantly pain'd. 

And foreign climes must cater for thy taste. 

Hence, what disaster ! — Though the price was paid, 

That persecuting priest, the Turk of Rome, 1011 

Whose foot, (ye gods !) though cloven, must be kiss'd, 

Detain 'd thy dinner on the Latian shore ; 

(Such is the fate of honest Protestants !) 

And poor Magnificence is starved to death. 3015 

Hence just resentment, indignation, ire ! — 

Be pacified ; if outward things are great, 

'Tis magnanmiity great things to scorn ; 

Pompous expenses, and parades august, 

And courts, that insalubrious soil to peace. 1020' 

True happiness ne'er cnter'd at an eye ; 

True happiness resides in things unseen. 

No smiles of Fortune ever bless'd the bad. 

Nor can her frowns rob Innocence of joys ; 

That jewel wanting, triple crowns are poor : 102S 

So tell his Holiness, and be revenged. 

Pleasure, we both agree, is man's chief good; 
Our only contest, what deserves the name. 
Give Pleasure's name to nought but what has pass'd 
The' authentic seal of Reason (which, like Yorke, 1030 
Demurs on what it passes) and defies 
The tooth of Time ; when pass'd, a pleasure still ; 
Dearer on trial, lovelier for its age. 
And doubly to be prized, as it promotes 
Our future, while it forms our present joy- 1035 

Some joys the future overcast, and some 
Throw all their beams that wisy, and gild the tomb. 
Some joys endear eternity ; some give 
Abhorr'd Annihilation dreadful charms. 
Are rival joys contending for thy choice ? 1040 

Consult thy whole existence, and be safe ; 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 199 

T^liat oracle will put all doubt to flight. 
Short is the lesson, though my lecture long ; 
* Be good' — and let Heaven answer for the rest ! 

Yet, with a sigh o'er all mankind, I grant, 1045 
In this our day of proof, our land of hope, 
The good man has his clouds that intervene ; 
Clouds that obscure his sublunary day, 
But never conquer : e'en the best must own, 
Patience and Resignation are the pillars 1050 

Of human peace on earth : the pillars these, 
But those of Seth not more remote from thee, 
Till this heroic lesson thou hast learn'd, 
To frown at pleasure, and to smile in pain. 
Fired at the prospect of unclouded bliss, 1055 

Heaven in reversion, like the Sun, as yet 
Beneath the' horizon, cheers us in this world ; 
It sheds, on souls susceptible of light, 
The glorious dawn of our eternal day. 

' This (says Lorenzo) is the fair harangue ! 1060 
But can harangues blow back strong Nature's stream. 
Or stem the tide I[eaven pushes through our veins, 
VVhich sweeps away man's iiapotent resolves, 
And lays his labour level with the world .-' 

Themselves men make their cc^ment on mankind, 
And think nought is, but what they find at home : lOGG 
Thus weakness to chimera turns the truth. 
Nothing romantic has the Muse prescribed. 
Above," Lorenzo saw the man of earth. 
The mortal man, and wretched was the sight, 1070 
To balance that, to comfort and exalt. 
Now see the man immortal : him, I mean. 
Who lives as such ; whose heart, full bent on Heaven, . 
Leans all that way, his bias to the stars. 
The world's dark shades, in contrast set, shall raise 
His lustre more ; though bright, without a foil : 1070 
Observe his awful portrait, and admire ; 
Nor stop at wonder ; imitate, and live. 
'''■ In a former INi«ht. 



J^OO THE COMPLAliNT. n. riir. 

Some angel guide my pencil, while I draw, 
What nothing- less than angel can exceed, 1080 

A jnan on earth devoted to the skies ; 
Like ships in sea.s, while in, above the world 

With aspect mild, and elevated eye. 
Behold him seated on a mount serene. 
Above the fogs of Sense, and Passions storm ; 10S5 
All the black cares and tumults of this life, 
Like harmless thunders, breaking at his feet, 
Excite his pity, not impair his peace. 
Earth's genuine sons, the sceptred and the slave 
A mingled mob ! a wandering herd ! he sees, 109i) 
Bewilder'd in the vale ; in all unlike ! 
His full reverse in all ! what higher praise ? 
What stronger demonstration of the right ? 

The present all their care, the future his. 
When public welfare calls, or private want, 1095 

They give to Fame ; his bounty he conceals. 
Their virtues varnish Nature, his exalt. 
Mankind's esteem they court, and he his own. 
Theirs the wild chase of false felicities; 
His, the composed possession of the true. 1100 

Alike tliroughout is his consistent peace, 
All of one colour, and an even thread ; 
While party-colour'd shreds of happiness, 
With hideous gaps between, patch up for them 
A madman's robe ; each puff of Fortune blows 1105 
The tatters by, and shows their nakedness. 

He sees with other eyes than theirs : where they 
Behold a sun, he spies a Deity. 
What makes them only smile, makes him adore. 
Where they see mountains, he but atoms sees. 1110 
An empire, in his balance, weighs a grain. 
They things terrestrial worship as divine ; 
His hopes, immortal, blow them by as dust 
That dims his sight, and shortens his survey, 
Which longs, in infinite, to lose all bound. 1115 

Titles and honours (if they prove his fate) 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGA . 20i 

JJe lays aside to find his dignity j 
Ncdignity they find in auglit besides. 
They triumph in externals, (which conceal 
Man's real glory) proud of an eclipse : 1120 

Himself too much he prizes to be proud, 
And nothing thinks so great in man, as man. 
Too dear he holds his interest to neglect 
Ajiother's welfare, or his right invadi 
Their interest, like a Ytot lives on prey. 1125 

They kindle at the shadow of a wrong ; 
Wrong he sustains with temper, looks on He&ven, 
Nor stoops to think his injurer his foe : 
Nought but what wou.w:^« his virtue wounds his peace 
A cover'd heart their character defends ; 1130 

A cover'd heart denies him half his praia^ 
With nakedness his innocence agrees, 
While their broad foliage testifir their fall. 
Their no joys end where his full feast begins ; 
His joys create, theirs murder, future bliss. 1135 

To triumph in existence his alone ; 
And his alone triumphantly to think 
}Iis true existence is not yet begun. 
His glorious course was, yesterday, complete ; 
Death then was welcome ; yet life still is sweet. 1140 

But nothing charms Lorenzo like the firm 
Undaunted breast. — And whoso is that high praise .'' 
They yield to pleasure, though they danger brave. 
And show no fortitude but in the field ; 
If there they show it, 'tis for glory shown ; 1145 

Nor will that cordial always man their hearts. 
A cordial his sustains, that cannot fail : 
By pleasure unsubdued, unbroke by pain, 
He shares in that Omnipotence he trusts ; 
All bearing, all attempting, till he fall ; 3150 

And when he falls, writes Vici on his shield. 
From magnanimity all fear above ; 
From nobler recompense above applause, 
Which owes to man's sliort outlook all its charms. 



SQ2 THE COMPLAINT. n. viii. 

Backward to credit what he never felt, 115t> 

Lorenzo cries, — ' Where ehines this miracle ? 
From what root rises this immortal man ?'— 
A root that grows not in Lorenzo's ground : 
The root dissect, nor wonder at the flower. 

He follows Nature (not like thee)* and shows us 
An uninverted system of a man. 1161 

His appetite wears Reason's golden chain, - 
And finds, in due restraint, its luxury. 
His passion, like an eagle well reclaim'd, 
Is taught to fly at nought but infinite. 1165 

Patient his hope, iinanxious is his care. 
His caution fearless, and his grief (if grief 
The gods ordain) a stranger to despair. 
And why ? — because affection, more than meet, 
His wisdom leaves not disengaged from Heaven. 1170 
Those secondary goods that smile on earth, 
He, loving in proportion, loves in peace. 
They most the world enjoy who least admire. 
His understanding scapes the common cloud 
Of fumes arising from the boiling breast. 1175 

His head is clear, because his heart is cool^ 
By worldly competitions uninflamed. 
The moderate movements of his soul admit 
Distinct ideas, and matured achate. 
An eye impartial, and an even scale ; 1180 

Whence judgment sound and unrepenting choice. 
Thus, in a double sense, the good are wise ; 
On its own dunghill wiser than the world. 
What, then, the world .'' it must be doubly weak. 
Strange truth ! as soon would they believe their creed. 

Yet thus it is, nor otherwise can be, 1186 

So far from aught romantic what I sing ; 
Bliss has no being, Virtue has no strength, 
But from the prospect of immortal life. 
Who think earth all, or (what v/eighs just the same) 
Who care no farther, must prize what it yields, 1191 
/*Seepafi^el93;line2l, 



VIRTUE'S APOLOGY. 2Q3 

Fond of its fancies, proud of its parades. 
Who thinks earth nothing can't its charms admire ; 
He can't i foe, though most malignant, hate, 
Because chat hate would prove his greater foe. 1195 
'Tis haid for them (yet who so loudly boast 
Good m\\ to men ?) to love their dearest friend ; 
For nay not he invade their good supreme, 
Where ths least jealousy turns love to gall ? 
All slines to them, that for a season shines : 1200 

Each act, each thought he questions ; ' What its weight, 

Its colour what, a thousand ages hence .'" 

And what it there appears, he deems it now ; 

Heme pure are the recesses of his soul. 

The godlike man has nothing to conceal ; 1205 

His rirtue, constitutionally deep, 

Has Habit's fii-mness, and Affection's flame : 

Angels, allied, descend to feed the fire. 

And Death, which others slays, makes him a god. 

And now, Lorenzo ! bigot of this world ! 1210 

Wont to disdain poor bigots, caught by Heaven ! 
Stand by thy scorn, and be reduced to nought ! 
For what art thou ? — Thou boaster ! while thy glare, 
Thy gaudy grandeur, and mere worldly worth, 
Like a broad mist, at distance, strikes us most, 12j/5 
And, like a mist, is nothing when at hand ; 
His merit, like a mountain, on approach, 
Swells more, and rises nearer to the skies ; 
By promise now, and by possession, soon 
(Too soon, too much, it cannot be) his own. 1220 

From this thy just annihilation rise, 
Lorenzo ! rise to something, by reply. 
The world, thy client, listens and expects, 
And longs to crown thee with immortal praise.— 
Canst thou be silent ? no ; for wit is thine, 1225 

And Wit talks most when least she has to say, 
And Reason interrupts not her career. 
She '11 say — that mists above the mountains rise, 

And with a. tksUsand pkasflfitries amuse ; 



204 THE COMPLALNT. n. viu. 

She '11 sparkle, puzzle, flutter, raise a dust, 1230 

And fly conviction in the dust she raised. 

Wit, how delicious to man's daint;/ taste ! 
'Tis precious as the vehicle of sense, 
But, as its substitute, a dire disease. 
Pernicious talent ! flatter'd by the world, 1235 

By the blind world, which thinks the talent rare. 
Wisdom is rare, Lorenzo ! wit abounds ; 
Passion can give it ; sometimes wine inspires 
The lucky flash ; and madness rarely fails. 
Whatever cause the spirit strongly stirs 1240 

Confers the bays, and rivals thy renown. 
For thy renown 'twere well was this the worst ; 
Chance often hits it ; and, to pique thee more, 
Sec Dulness, blundering on vivacities, 
Shakes her sage head at the calamity 1245 

Which has exposed, and let her down to thee. 
But Wisdom, awful Wisdom ! which inspects, 
Discerns, compares, weighs, separates, infers, 
Seizes the right, and holds it to the last. 
How rare ! in senates, synods, sought in vain ; 1250 
Or if there found, 'tis sacred to the few ; 
While a lewd prostitute to multitudes, 
Frequent, as fatal, Wit. In civil life 
Wit makes an enterpriser, Sense a man. 
Wit hates authority, commotion loves, 1255 

A:id thinks herself the /ightning of the storm. 
In states 'tis dangerous ; in religion, death. 
Shall Wit turn Christian when the dull believe ? 
Sense is our helmet, Wit is but the plume ; 
The plume exposes, 'tis our helmet saves. 12G0 

Sense is the diamond, weighty, solid, sound ; 
When cut by Wit it casts a brighter beam ; 
Yet Wit apart, it is a diamond still. 
Wit, widow'd of good sense, is worse than nought ; 
It hoists more sail to run against a rock. 1.365 

Thus a half Chesterfield is quite a fool. 

Whom d.i-ill fcQis scsra 'ad ^hpn th?k \yaflt of wit. 



VIRTUES APOLOGY. 2Q5 

How ruinous the rock I warn thee shun, 
Where sirens sit, to sing thee to thy fate ! 
A joy in which our reason bears no part, 1270 

Is but a sorrow, tickhng ere it stings. 
Let not the cooings of the world aUure thee ; 
Which of her lovers ever found her true ? 
Happy ! of this bad world who little know : — 
And yet, we much m«st know her, to be safe. 1275 
To know the world, not love her, is thy point ; 
She gives but little, nor that little long. 
There is, I grant, a triumph of the pulse, 
A dance of spirits, a mere froth of joy, 
Our thoughtless agitation's idle child, 1230 

That mantles high, tliat sparkles, and expires, 
Leaving the soul more vapid than before ; 
An animal ovation ! such as holds 
No commerce with our reason, but subsists 
On juices, through the well toned tubes, well strain'd; 
A nice machine ! scarce ever tuned aright ; 1286 

And when it jars — thy sirens sing no more ; 
Thy dance is done ; the demi-god is thrown 
(Short apotheosis !) beneath the man. 
In coward gloom immersed, or fell despair. 1290 

Art thou yet dull enoiigh despair to dread, 
And startle at destruction ? if thou art, 
Accept a buckler, take it to the field ; 
(A field of battle is this mortal life !) 
When danger threatens, lay it on thy heart, 1295 

A single sentence proof against the world. 
* Soul, body, fortune ; every good pertains 
To one of these ; but prize not all alike ; 
Tlae goods of fortune to thy body's health, • 
Body to soul, and soul submit to God.' 1300 

Wouldst thou build lasting happiness ? do this : 
The' inverted pyramid can never stand. 

Is this truth doubtful .? it outshines the Sun j 
Nay, the Sun shines not but to show us this, 
Th* single lesson of mankind on earth : 1305 

18 



206 THE COA-ITLAINT. is.xiu. 

And yet — yot what ? No news ! mankind is mad j 

Such mighty numbers list against the right, 

(And what can't numbers, when bewitched, achieve !) 

They talk themselves to something like belief 

That all earths jo3'^s are theirs ; as Athens' fool 1310 

Grinn d from the port, on every sail his own. 

They grin, but wherefore ? and how long the laugh? 
Half ignorance their mirth, and half a lie. 
To cheat the world, and cheat themselves, they smile : 
Hard either task ! the most abandou'd own 1315 

That others, if abandon'd, are undone : 
Then for themselves, the moment Reason wakes, 
(And Providence denies it long repose) 
O how laborious is their gaiety ! 

They scarce can swallow their ebullient spleen, 1320 
Scarce muster patience to support the farce, 
And pump sad laughter till the curtain falls. 
Scarce did I say ? some cannot sit it out ; 
Oft their own daring hands the curtain draw, 
And show us what their joy by their despair. 1395 

The clotted hair ! gored breast ! blaspheming eye I 
Its impious fury still alive in death ! 
Shut, shut the shocking scene. — But Heaven denies 
A cover to such guilt, and so should man. 
Look round, Lorenzo ! see the reeking blade, 1330 
The' envenomd phial, and the fatal ball ; 
The strangling cord, and suffocating stream; 
The loathsome rottenness, and foul decays, 
From raging riot, (slower suicides !) 
And pride in these, more execrable still ! 1335 

How horrid all to thought ! — but horrors, these, 
That vouch the truth, and aid my feeble song. ^i 

From vice, sense, fancy, no man can be bless'd « 
Bliss is too great to lodge within an hour : 
When an immortal being aims at bliss, 1340, 

Duration is essential to the name. 
O for a joy from reason I joy from that 
Which maiies man map. and; exercised arig'ljt, 



ymTXJE'S A?OLO€^Y. StS* 

Will make him more : a bounteous joy ! that gives 
And promises ; that weaves, with art divine, 13W{3 
The richest prospect into present peace : 
A joy ambitious ! joy in common held 
With thrones ethereal, and their greater far : 
A joy high-privileged from chance, time, death ! 
A joy which death shall double, judgment crown ! 
Crown'd higher, and still higher, at each stage, 1351 
Through bless'd Eternity's long day, yet still 
Not more remote from sorrow than from him, 
Whose lavish hand, whose love stupendous, pours 
So much of Deity on guilty dust. 1355 

There, O my Lucia ! may I meet thee there, 
Where not thy presence can improve my bliss ! 

Affects not this the sages of the world ? 
Can nought affect them, but what fools them too ? 
Eternity, depending on an hour, 1360 

Makes serious thought man's wisdom, joy, and praise. 
Nor need you blush (though sometimes your designs 
May shun the light) at your designs on Heaven ; 
Sole point ! where overbashful is your blame. 
Are you not wise '' — you know you are : yet hear 1365 
One truth, amid your numerous schemes mislaid, 
Or overlook'd, or thrown aside, if seen ; 
* Our schemes to plan by this world, or the next, 
Is the sole difference between wise and fool.' 
All worthy men will weigh you in this scale : 1370 
What wonder then, if they pronounce you light ? • 
Is their esteem alone not worth your care ? 
Accept my simple scheme of common sense, 
Thus save your fame, and make two worlds your own. 

The world replies not r — but the world persists, 1375 
And puts the cause off to the longest day, 
Planning evasions for the day of doom : 
So far, at that rehearing, from redress, 
They then turn v^itnesses against themselves. 
Hear that, Lorenzo ! nor be wise to-morrow. 138© 

Haste, haste ! a man, by nature, is in haste ; 



203 THE COMPLAINT. n. vii:. 

For who shall answer for another hour ? 
'Tis highly prudent to make one sure friend, 
And that thou canst not do, this side the skies. 

Ye sons of Earth ! (nor willing to be more !) 1385 
Since verse you think from priestcraft somewhat free, 
Thus, in an age so gay, the Muse plain truths 
(Truths which, at church, you might have heard in prose) 
Has ventured into light, well pleased the verse 
Should be forgot, if you the truths retain, 1390 

And crown her with your welfare, not yovu* praise. 
But praise she need not fear : I see my fate, 
And headlong leap, like Curtius, down the gulf. 
Since many an ample volume, mighty tome, * 

Must die, and die unwept ; O thou minute 1395 

Devoted page ! go forth among thy foes ; 
Go, nobly proud of martyrdom for truth, 
And die a double death : mankind, incensed, 
Denies thee long to live ; nor shalt thou rest 
When thou art dead ; in Stygian shades arraign'd 
By Lucifer, as traitor to his throne, 1401 

And bold blasphemer of his friend, — the World ! 
The world, whose legions cost him slender pay, 
And volunteers around his bannei swarm ; 
Prudent, as Prussia in her zeal for Gaul. 1405 

' Are all, then, fools ?' Lorenzo cries. — Yes, all 
But such as hold this doctrine (new to thse.) 
' The mother of true wisdom is the will :' 
The noblest intellect, a fool v^ithout it. 
World- wisdom much has done, and more may do, 1410 
In arts and sciences, in v/ars and peace ; 
But art and science, like thy wealth, will leave thee, 
And make thee twice a beggar at thy death. 
This is the most indulgence can afford, — 
' Thy wisdom all can do but — make thee wise.' 1415 
?f or think this censure is severe on thee : 
Satan, thy master. I dare call a dunce. 



THE CONSOLATION. 



NIGHT IX. 



CONTAINING, AMONG OTHER THINGS, 

I. A MORAL SURVEY OF THE NOCTURNAL HEAVENS. 
II. A NIGHT ADDRESS TO THE DEITY. 

HUMBLY INSCRIBED 

TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. 

— — Fatis contraria fata rependens. Virg'. 

As whon a traveller, a long day pass'd 
In painful search of what he cannot find, 
At night's approach, content with the next cot, 
There ruminates a while his lahour lost ; 
Then, qheers his heart with what his fate affords, 6 
And chants his sonnet to deceive the time, 
Till the due season calls him to repose ; 
Thus I, long travel'd in the ways of men, ' 

And dancing, with the rest, the giddy maze. 
Where Disappointment smiles at Hope's career, 10 
Warn'd by the languor of life's evening ray, 
At length have housed me in an humble shed. 
Where, future wandering banish'd from my thought, 
And waiting, patient, the sweet hour of rest, 
I chase the moments with a serious song. 15 

Song sooths our pains, and age has pains to sooth. 
"Whenag^, care, crime, and friends embraced at heart, 
IS* 



210 THE CONSOLATION. > n. m 

Torn from my bleeding breast, and death's dark shade, 
Which hovers o'er me, quench the' etherial fire, 
Canst thau, O Night ! indulge one labour more ? 20 
One labour more indulge ! then sleep, my strain ! 
Till, haply, waked by Raphael's golden lyre, 
Where night, death, age, care, crime, and sorrow cease, 
To bear a part in everlasting lays ; 
Though far, far higher set ; in aim, I trust, 25 

Syraphonious to this humble prelude here. 

Has not the Muse asseAed pleasures pure. 
Like those above, exploding other joys ? 
Weigh vvhat was urged, Lorenzo ; fairly weigh, 
And tell me, hast thou cause to triumph still ? 30 

I think thou wilt forbear a boast so bold : 
But if, beneath the favour of mistake, 
Thy smile's sincere ; not more sincere can be 
Lorenzo's smile, than my compassion for him. 
The sick in body call for aid ; the sick 35 

in mind are covetous of more disease ; 
And, when at worst, they dream themselves quite well. 
To know ourselves diseased is half our cure. 
When Nature's blush by custom is wiped off, 
And<])onscience, deaden'd by repeated strokes, 40 
Has into manners naturalized our crimes, 
The curse of curses is our curse to love ; 
To triumph in the blackness of our guilt 
(As Indians glory in the deepest jet,) 
And throw aside our senses with our peace. 45 

But, grant no guilt, no shame, no least alloy ; 
Grant joy and glory quite unsullied shone ; 
Yet, still, it ill deserves Lorenzo's heart. 
No joy, no glory glitters in thy sight, 
But, through the thin partition of an hour, 50 

I see its sables wove by Destiny ; 
And that in sorrow buried, this in shame ; 
While howling furies ring the doleful knell, 
And Conscience, now so soft thou scarce canst hear 
Her whisper, echoee her eternal peal. 55 



THE CONSOLATION. 211 

Where tlie prime actors of the last year's scene ; 
Their port so proud, their buskin, and their plume ? 
How many sleep, who kept the world awake 
With lustre and with noise ! Has Death proclaim'd 
A truce, and hung his sated lance on high ? 60 

'Tis brandish'd still, nor shall the present year 
lie more tenacious of her human leaf, 
Or spread, of feeble life, a thinner fall. 

But needless monuments to wake the thought } 
Life's gaj'est scenes speak man's mortality, 65 

Though in a style more florid, full as plain 
As mausoleums, p)7ramids, and tombs. 
What a.re our noblest ornaments, but Deaths 
Turnd flatterers of Life, in paint or marble, 
The well stain'd canvass, or the featured stone ? 70 
Our fathers grace, or rather haunt, the scene : 
Joy peoples her pavilion from the dead. 

* Profess'd diversions ! cannot tliese escape ?' — 
Far from it : these present us with a shroud, 
And talk of death, like garlands o'er a grave. 75 

As some bold plunderers for buried wealth, 
We ransack tombs for pastime ; from" the dust 
Call up the sleeping hero ; bid him tread 
The scene for our amusement. How like gods 
We sit ; and, wrapp'd in immortality, 80 

Shed generous tears on wretches born to die j 
Their fate deploring, to forget our own ! 

What all the pomps and triumphs of our lives 
But legacies in blossom '' Our lean soil, 
luxuriant grown, and rank in vanities, 85 

From friends interr'd beneath, a rich manure .'' 
Like other worms, we banquet on the dead ; 
Like other worms, shall we crawl on, nor know 
Our present frailties, or approaching fate ? 

Lorenzo ! such the glories of the world ! 90 

What is the world itself ? thy world ? — a grave. 
Where is the dust that has not been alive i 
The spade, the plough disturb our aticestors. 



^i2 ^tHE GCinS^SOLATION; k. is. 

Prom human mould we reap our daily bread. 
*rhe globe around earth's hollow surface shakes, 95 
And is the ceiling of her sleeping sons. 
O'er devastation we blind revels keep : 
Whole buried towns support the dancer's heel. 
The moist of human frame the Sun exhales ; 
"Winds scatter, through the mighty void, the dry : . 
Earth repossesses part of what she gave, 101 

And the freed spirit mounts on wings of fire : 
Each element partakes our scattered spoils. 
As Nature wide our ruins spread. Man's death 
Inhabits all things, but the thought of man. 105 

Nor man alone ; his breathing bust expires ; 
His tomb is mortal ; em.pires die : where, now, 
The Roman ? Greek .'' they stalk, an empty name ! 
Yet fiew regard them in this useful light, 
Though half our learning is their epitaph. 110 

When down thy vale, unlock'd by midnight thought, 
That loves to wander in thy sunless realms, 

Death ! I stretch my view, what visions rise I 
What triumphs ! toils imperial ! arts divine ! 

In wither'd laurels glide before my sight ! 115 

What lengths of far famed ages, billowed high 

With human agitation, roll along 

In unsubstantial images of air ! 

The melancholy ghosts of dead Renown, 

Whispering faint echoes of the world's applause, 120 

With penitential aspect, as they pass, 

All point at earth, and hiss at human pride ; 

The wisdom of the wise, and prancings of the great. 

But, O Lorenzo ! far the rest above, 
Of ghastly nature, and enormous size, 125 

One form assaults my sight, and chills my blood. 
And shakes my frame. Of one departed World 

1 see the mighty shadow : oozy wreath 

And dismal sea- weed crown her : o'er her urn 
Jleclined, she weeps her desolated realms, 130 

^nd blosLts[d sons •. and, weeping, i^rophesie'^s 



THE CONSOLATION. i^iS 

Another's dissolution, soon, in flames : 
But, like Cassandra, prophesies in vain : 
In vain to many ; not, I trust, to thee. 

For, know'st thou not, or art thou loath to know, 
The great decree, the counsel of the skies.? 136 

Deluge and Conflagration, dreadful powers ! 
Prime ministers of vengeance ! chain'd in caves 
Distinct, apart, the giant furies roar ; 
Apart, or such their horrid rage for ruin, 140 

In mutual conflict would they rise, and wage 
Eternal war, till one was quite devour'd. 
But not for this ordain'd their boundless rag 3 
When Hearen's inferior instruments of wrw:, 
War. famine, pestilence, are ^yxvA too weak 145 

To scourge a world for her e i>.sfmous crimes, 
These are let loose alternate : down they rush, 
Swift and tempestuous, from the' eternal throne, 
With irresistible commission arm'd, 
The world, in vain corrected, to destroy ; 150 

And ease Creation of the shocking scene. 

Seest thou, Lorenzo I what depends on man ? 
The fate of Nature, as for man her birth. 
Earths actors change Earth's transitory scenes, 
And makd Creation groan with human guilt. 155 

How must it groan, in a new deluge whelm'd, 
But not of waters ! At the destined hour, 
By the loud trumpet suramon'd to the charge, 
See all the formidable sons of fire, 
Eruptions, earthquakes, comets, lightnings, play 160 
Their various engines : all at once disgorge 
Their blazing magazines ; and take, by storm, 
This poor terrestrial citadel of man. 

Amazing period ! when each mountain height 
Outburns Vesuvius ; rocks eternal pour 165 

Their melted mass, as rivers once they pour'd ; 
Stars rush, and final Ruin fiercely drives 
Her ploughshare o'er Creation ! — while aloft, 
^XoTQ than astonishment : if more can be ' 



HiA "liHE CONSOLATION. k. is. 

iCax othsr firmaraent than e'er was seen, 170 

Than e'er was thought by man ! far other ebdss ! 

Stars animate, that govern those of fire 3 

Far other sun !-— a Sun, O how unlike 

The Babe at Bethlehem ! how unlike the Man 

That groan'd on Calvary !— yet He it is ; 175 

That Man of sorrows ! O how changed ! what pomp 

In grandeur terrible all Heaven descends ! 

And gods, ambitious, triumph in liis train. 

A swift archaiigcl, with his golden wing, 

As blots and clouds that darken and disgrace 180 

The scene divine, sweeps stars and suns aside. 

And now, all dross removed, Heaven's own pure day, 

Full on the confines of our ether flames, 

While (dreadful contrast !) far, how far beneath '. 

Hell, bursting, belches forth her blazing seas 185 

And storms sulphureous ; her voracious jaws 

Kxpanding wide, and roaring for her prey. 

Lorenzo ! welcome to this scene ; the last 

In Nature's course, the first in Wisdom's thought. 

This strikes, if aught can strike thee ; this awakes 190 

The most supine ; this snatches man from death. 

Rouse, rouse, Lorenzo ' then, and follow me, 

Where truth, the most momentous man can hear, 

Loud calls m}' soul, and ardour wings her flight. 

I find my inspiration in my theme : 195 

The grandeur of my subject is my Muse. 

At midnight, when mankind is wrapp'd in peace, 
And worldly Fancy feeds on golden dreams, 
To give more dread to man's most dreadful hour ; 
At midnight, 'tis presumed, this pomp will burst 200 
From tenfold darkness, sudden as the spark 
From smitten steel ; from nitrous grain the blaze. 
Man, starting from his couch, shall sleep no more ! 
The day is broke, which never more shall close ! 
Above, around, beneath, amazement all ! 205 

Terror and glory join'd in their extremes ! 
"Our Gad in ^candeur, and our woild on fir€ ! 



THE CONSOLATION. SHS 

^11 Nature struggling in the pangs of death 1 
Dost thou not hear her ? dost thou not deplore 
Her strong convulsions, and her final groan ? SIO 

"Where arc we now ? Ah rae ! the ground is gone 
0« which we stood, Lorenzo ! while thou mayst, 
Provide more firm support, or sink for ever ! 
Where ? how ? from whence ? Vain hope ! it is too late ! 
Where, where, for shelter, shall the guilty fly, 215 
When consternation turns the good man pale ! 

Oreat day ! for which all other days were made ; 
For which earth rose from Chaos, man from earth, 
And an eternity, the date of gods, 
Descended on poor earth-created man ! 220 

Great day of dread, decision, and despair ! 
At thought of thee each sublunary wish 
Lets go its eager grasp, and drops the world, 
And catches at each reed of hope in Heaven. 
At thought of thee ! — and art thou absent then ? 225 
Lorenzo ! no ; 'tis here ; — it is begun : — 
Already is begun the grand assize, 
In thee, in all : deputed Conscience scales 
The dread tribunal, and forestals our doom ; 
Forestals,^ and, by forestalling, proves it sure. 830 

Why on himself should man void judgment pass ? 
Is idle Nature laughing at her sons ? 
Who Conscience sent, her sentence will support, 
And God above assert that God in man. 

Thrice happy they ! that enter now the court 235 
Heaven opens in their bosoms : but how rare, 
Ah me ! that magnanimity, how rare ! 
What hero, like the man who stands himself j 
Who dares to meet his naked heart alone ; 
Who hears intrepid the full charge it brings, 24d 

Resolved to silence future murmurs there ! 
The coward flies, and, flying, is undone. 
(Art thou a coward ? no :) the coward flies ; 
Thinks, but thinks slightly ; asks, but fears to k'noxv 
Asks ' Wliat is truth r' with Pilate, aad retires ; 21^ 



216 THE CONSOLATION. iv. i- 

Dissolves the court, and minwles with the throng : 
Asylum sad ! from Reason, Hope, and Heaven. 

Shall all but man look out with ardent eye 
For that great day which was ordain'd for man ? 

day of consummation ! mark supreme 250 
(If men are wise) of human thought I nor least 

Or in the sight of angels, or their King ! 

Angels, whose radiant circles, lieight o'er lieigltt, 

Order o'er order rising, blaze o'er blaze, 

As in a theatre, surround this scene, 255 

Intent on man, and anxious for his fate. 

Angels look out for thee ; for thee, their Lord, 

To vindicate his glory ; and for thee 

Creation universal calls aloud 

To disinvolve the moral world, and give 260 

To Nature's renovation brighter charms. 

Shall man alone, whose fate, whose final fate, 
Hangs on that hour, exclude it from his thought .'' 

1 think of nothing else ; I #ee ! I feel it 1 

All Nature, like an earthquake, trembling round ! 2G5 

All deities, like summer's swarms, on wing ' 

All basking in the full meridian blaze ! 

I see the judge enthroned ! the flaming guard ! 

The voluiT : open'd ! open'd every heart ! 

A sunbeanj pointing out each secret thought ' S70 

No patron ! intercessor none ' now pass'd 

The sweet, the clement, mediatorial hour ! 

For guilt no plea ! to pain no pause ! no bound i 

Inexorable all ! and all extreme ! 

Nor man alone ; the foe of God and man, 275 

From his dark den, blaspheming, drags his chain, 
And rears his brazen front, with thunder scarr'd. 
Receives his sentence, and begins his hell. 
All vengeance past, now, seems abundant grace. 
Like meteors in a stormy sky, how roll 230 

His baleful eyes ! he curses \Vhom he dreads, 
And deems it the first moment of his fau. 

'Tis present to my thought ! — and yet where is it ? 



THE CONSOLATION. 217 

V A-rfgels can't tell mc ; angels cannot guess 
The period, from created beings locked 23e» 

In darkness ; but the process and the place 
Are less obscure ; for these may man inquire. 
Say, thou great close of human hopes and fears ! 
Great key of heairts ! great finisher of fates ! 
Great end ! -and great beginning ! say, where art thou ? 
Art thou in time, or in eternity ? 291 

Nor in eternity nor time I find thee : 
These, as two monarchs, on their borders meet, 
(Monarchs of all elapsed or unarrived !) 
As in debate, how best their powers allied 295 

May swell the gr§,ndeur, or discharge the wrath 
Of him, whom both their monarchies obey. 

Time, this vast fabric for him built (and doom'd 
"With him to fall) now bm-sting o'er his head, 
His lamp, the Sun, extinguish'd, from beneath 300 
The frown of hideous darkness calls his sons 
From their long slumber, from earth's heaving womb, 
To second birth ' contemporary throng ! 
Roused at one call, upstarted from one bed, 
Fress'd in one crowd, appall'd with one amaze, 305 
He turns them o'er, Eternity ! to thoe : 
Then (as a king deposed disdains to live) 
He falls on his own scythe, nor falls alone ; 
IT is greatest foe falls with him ; Time, and he 
Who murder'd all Time's offspring. Death, expire. 310 

Time was ! Eternity now reigns alone I 
Awful Eternity ! offended queen ! 
And her resentment to mankind how just ! 
With kmd intent, soliciting access. 
How often has she knock'd at human hearts i 315 

Rich to repay their hospitality, 
How often call'd ! and with the voicj of God 1 
Yet bore repulse, excluded as a cheat ! 
A dream ! while foulest foes found welcome there ! 
A dream, a cheat, now all things but her smile. 32Q 

For, lo ! her twice ten thousand gates tbrtfwrftvMe; 
19 



S18 THE CONSOLATION. n. is. 

As thrice from Indus to the frozen pole, 

With banners streaming as the comet's blaze, 

And clarions louder than the deep in storms, 

Sonorous as immortal breath can blow, 325 

Pour forth their myriads, potentates, and powers, 

Of light, of darkness, in a middle field. 

Wide as creation ! populous as wide ! 

A neutral region ! there to mark the' event 

Of that great drama, whose preceding scenes 330 

Detain'd them close spectators, through a length 

Of ages, ripening to this grand result ; 

Ages as yet unnumber'd but by God, 

Who now, pronouncing sentence, vindicates 

The rights of virtue, and his own renown. 335 

Eternity, the various sentence pass'd. 
Assigns tliB sever'd throng distinct abodes. 
Sulphureous or ambrosial. What ensues ? 
The deed predominant ! the deed of deeds I 
Which makes a hell of hell, a heaven of heaven. 340 
The goddess, with determined aspect, turns 
Her adamantine key's enormous size 
Through Destiny's inextricable wards. 
Deep driving every bolt on both their fat'^s ; 
Then, from the crystal battlements of heaven, 345 
Down, down she hurls it through the dark profound, 
Ten thousand thousand fathom, there to rust. 
And ne'er unlock her resolution more. 
The deep resounds, and hell, through all her glooms, 
Returns, in groans, the melancholy roar. 350 

O how unlike the chorus of the skies ! 
O how unlike those shouts of joy, that shake 
The whole ethereal ! how the concave rings ! 
Nor strange ! when deities their voice exalt ; 
And louder far than when Creation rose, 355 

To see Creation's godlike aim and end, 
So wel' accomplish'd ! so divinely closed ! 
To see the mighty Dramatist's last act 
TAs meet) in glory rising o'er the rest, 



THE CONSOLATION. 219 

No fancied God; a God, indeed, descends, 360 

To solve all knots ; to strike the moral home ; 

To throw full day on darkest scenes of time ; 

To clear, commend, exalt, and crown the whole. 

Hence, in one peal of loud, eternal praise, 

The charm'd spectators thunder their applause, 365 

And the vast void beyond applause resounds. 

What then am I ?— 

Amidst applauding worlds, 
And worlds celestial, is there found on earth 
A peevish, dissonant, rebellious string, 
Which jars in the grand chorus, and complains .'* 370 
Censure on thee, Lorenzo ! I suspend. 
And turn it on myself; how greatly due ! 
All, all is right, by God ordain'd or done ; 
And who, but God, resumed the friends He gave ? ' 
And have I been complaining, then, so long ? 375 

Complaining of his favours, pain and death ? 
Who, without Pain's advice, would e'er be good ? 
Who, v.'ithout Death, but would be good in vain ? 
Pain is to save from pain ; all punishment 
To make for peace ; and death to save from death ; 
And second death to guard immortal life ; 381 

To rouse the careless, tlie presumptuous awe, 
And turn the tide of souls another way ; 
By the same tenderness divine ordain'd 
TJiat planted Eden, and high-bloom 'd for man 335 
A fairer Eden, endless, in the skies. 

Heaven gives us friends to bless the present scene ; 
Resumes them, to prepare us for the next. 
AH evils natural are mora^ goods ; 
All discipline indulgence, on the whole. 390 

None are unhappy ; all have cause to smile, 
But such as to themselves that cause deny. 
Our faults are at the bottom of our pains : 
Error in act, or judgment^ is the source 
Of endless siglis. We sin, or we mistake ; 395 

And Nature tax, when false opinion stings. 



£nO THE CONSOLATION. n. ix 

Ijet impious grief be banish'd. joy indulged ; 

TUit chiefly then, when Grief puts in her claim. 

Joy from the joyous frequently betrays, 

Oft lives in vanity, and dies in woe. 400 

Joy amidst ills, corroborates, exalts ; 

'Tis joy and conquest ; joy and virtue too. 

A noble fortitude in ills delights 

Heaven, earth, ourselves ; 'tis duty, glory, peace ! 

Affliction is the good man's shining scene, 405 

Prosperity conceals his brightest ^a3^ 

As night to stars, woe lustre gives to man. 

Heroes in battle, pilots in the storm. 

And virtue ii> calamities, admire. 

The crown of manhood is a winter joy ; 410 

An evergreen that stands the northern blast, 

And blossoms .in the rigour of our fate. 

'Tis a prime part of hsippiness, to know 
How much unhappiness must prove our lot ; 
A part which few possess ! I'll pay life's tax, 415 

Without one rebel murmur, from this hour, 
JSor think it misery to be a man ; 
Who thinks it is, shall never be a god- 
Some ills we wish for, when we wish to live. 

What spoke proud Passion ? — ' Wish my being lost.'''* 
presumptuous 1 blasphemous ! absurd ! and false ! 421 
T^e triumph of my soul is, — that I am ; 
And therefore that I may be — what ? Lorenzo ! 
Look inward, and look deep ; and deeper still ; 
Unfathomably deep our treasure luns^ 425 

In golden veins, through all eternity ' 
Ages, and ages, and succeeding still 
New ages, where this phantom of an hour, 
Which courts, each night, dull slumber for repair, 
Shall wake, and wonder, and exult, and praise, 430 
And fly through infinite, and all unlock ; 
And (if deserved) by Heaven's redundant lovie, 
JVIade half-adorable itself, ad ere ; 

^ Rererring to the FirsJ Night. 



THE CONSOLATION. 221 

'\iul linJ; in adoration, endless joy ! 

'\V'here thou, not master of a moment here, 435 

Frail as the flower, and fleeting as the gale, 

May^t boast a whole eternity, enrich'd 

With all a kind Omnipotence c?n pour. 

Since Adam fell, no mortal uninspired 

Has ever yet conceived, or ever shall, 440 

How kind is God, how great (if good) is man. 

No man too largely from Heaven's love can hope, 

If Avliat is hoped he labours to secure. [Thee ; 

Ills ! — there are none : All gracious I none from 
From man full many ! Numerous is the race 445 

Of blackest ills, and those immortal too, 
Begot by Madness on fair Liberty,. 
Heaven's daughter, hell-debauch'd ! her hand alone 
Unlocks destruction to the sons of men. 
Fast barr'd by thine ; high-wall'd with adamant, 450 
Guarded with terrors reaching to this world, 
And ccvcr'd ^vith the thunders of thy law, 
Whose threats are mercies, whose injunctions guides, 
Assisting, not restraining Reason's choice ; 
Vvhose sanctions, unavoidable results 455^ 

From Nature's course, indulgently reveal'd ; 
If unreveal'd, more dangerous, nor less sure. 
Thus an indulgent father warns his sons, 
VDo this, fly that ;' — nor always tells the cause ; 
Pleased to reward, as duty to his will, 460 

A conduct needful to their oAvn repose. 

Great God of wonders ! (if, thy love survey'd, 
Aught else the name of wonderful retains) 
What rocks are these on which to build our trust ! 
Thy ways admit no blemish ; none I find ; 4G5 

Or this alcne, — That none is to be found : 
Not one, to soften Censure's hardy crime ; 
Not one, to palliate peevish Griefs complaint, 
Who, like a demon, murmuring from the dust. 
Dares into judgment call her judge. — Supreme ! 470 
For all I bless Thee ; most for the severe j 
19^ 



222 THE CONSOLATION. n. u. 

"Her death'' — my own at hand — the fiery guTf. 
That flaming bound of wrath omnipotent I 
It thunders ; — but it thunders to preserve ; 
It strengthens what it strikes ; its wholesome dread 
Averts the dreaded paW : its hideous groans 47G 

Join heaven's sweet hallelujahs in thy praise, 
Great Source of good alone ! how kind in all ! 
In vengeance kind ! pain, death, Gehena, save ! 

Thus, in thy world material, mighty Mind ! 480 
Not that alone which solaces and shines, 
The rough and gloomy, challenges our praise. 
The v/inter is as needful as the spring ; 
The thunder as the sun. A stagnate mass 
Of vapours breeds a pestilential air . 485 

Nor more propitious the Favonian breeze 
To Nature's health, than purifying storms. 
The dread volcano ministers to good ; 
Its smother'd flames might undermine the world. 
Loud iEtnas fulminate in love to man : 490 

Comets good omens are, when duly scann'd ; 
And, in their use, eclipses learn to shine. 

Man is responsible for ills received ; 
Those we call wretched are a chosen band, 
Compell'd to refuge in the right, for peace. 495 

Amid my list of blessings infinite 
Stand this the foremost, ' That my heart has bled.' 
'Tis Heaven's last effort of good will to man. 
"When pain can't bless, Heaven quits us in despair ! 
Who fails to grieve, when just occasion calls, 500 

Or grieves too much, deserves not to be bless'd ; 
Inhuman, or effeminate, his heart. 
Reason absolves the grief which reason ends. 
May Heaven ne'er trust my friend with happiness, 
Till it has taught him how to bear it well 505 

By previous pain, and made it safe to smile •• 
Such smiles are mine, and such may they remain, 
3??or hazard their extinction from excess. 
^ Lvicia. 



THE CONSOLATION. 223 

My change of heart a change of style demands ; 
The Consolation cancels the Complaint, 510 

And makes a convert of my guilty song. 

As when o'erlabour'd, and inclined to breathe, 
A panting traveller some rising ground, 
Some small ascent, has gain'd, he turns him round, 
And measures with his eye the various vale, 515 

The fields, woods, meads, and rivers, he has pass'd, 
And, satiate of his journey, thinks of home, 
Endcar'd by distance, nor affects more toil ; 
Thus I, though small, indeed, is that ascent 
The Muse has gain'd, review the paths she trod, 520 
Various, extensive, beaten but by few ; 
And, conscious of ^er prudence in repose. 
Pause, and with pleasure meditate an end, , 
Though still remote ; so fruitful is njy theme. 
Through many a field of moral and divine 5J25- 

The Muse has stray 'd, and much of sorrow seen 
In human ways, and much of false and vain, 
Which none who travel this bad road can miss. 
O'er friends deceased full heartily slie wept ; 
Of love divine the wonders she display 'd ; 530 

Proved man immortal ; show'd the source of joy ; 
The grand tribunal raised ; assign'd the bounds 
Of human grief In few, to close the v;hole, 
The moral Muse has shadow'd out a sketch, 
Though not in form, nor with a Raphael stroke, 535 
Of most our weakness needs believe or do, 
In this our land of travail and of hope. 
For peace on earth, or prospect of the skies. 

What then remains .'' much ! much ! a mighty debt 
To be discharged. These thoughts, O Night ! are thine ; 
From thee they came, like lovers' secret sighs, 541 
While others slept. So Cynthia (poets feign,) 
In shadows veil'd, soft-sliding from her sphere, 
Her shepherd cheer'd ; of her enamour'd less 
Than I of thee. — And art thou still unsung, 54? 

Bencath who^* brow, and by whose aid, I sing 



224 THE COX^^OLATIUN. k. ix. 

Immortal Silence ! where shall I begin ? 
Where end ? or how steal music from the spheres 
To sooth- their goddess ? 

O majestic Night ' 
Nature's great ancestor ! Day's elder-born ' 550 

And fated to survive the transient Sun ' 
By mortals and immortals seen with awe ! 
A starry crown thy raven brow adorns, 
An azure zone thy waist ; clouds, in heaven's loom 
^Vrought through varieties of shape and shade, 555 
In ample folds of drapery divine, 
'I'hy flowing mantle form, and, heaven throughout, 
Voluminously pour thy pompous train : 
Thy gloomy grandeurs (Nature's most august, 
Inspiring aspect I) claim a grateful verse ; 560 

And, like a sabk) curtain starr'd with gold, 
Drawn o'er my labours^ast, shnjl close the scene. 

And whai, O man ! so worthy to be sung ? 
What more prepares us for the songs of heaven ? 
Creation of archangels is the theme ! 5G5 

AVhat to be sung so needful, what so well 
Celestial joys prepare us to sustain ? 
The soul of man. His face design'd to see 
Who gave these wonders to be seen by man, 
Has here a previous scene of objects great 570 

On which to dwell ; to stretch to that expanse 
Of thought, to rise to that exalted height 
Of admiration, to contract that awe, 
And give her whole capacities that strength 
Which best may qualify for final jo)'. - 575 

The more our spirits are enlarged on earth, 
The deeper draught shall they receive of heaven, [bliss, 

Heaven's King ! whose face unveil'd consummatea 
Redundant bliss I which fills that mighty void 
The whole Creation leaves in human- hearts ! 5S0 

Thou ! who didst touch the lip of Jesse's son, 
Rapp'd in sweet contemplation of these fires, 
And set his linrp in concert v.-ith the sphcreS; 



THE CONSOLATION. S2& 

While of thy works material the supreme 
I dare attempt, assist my daring song : 585 

Loose me from Earth's enclosure ; from the Sun's 
Contracted circle set ray heart at large j 
Eliminate my spirit^ give it range 
Through provinces of thought yet unexplored ; 
Teach me, by this stupendous scaffolding, 590 

Creation's golden steps, to climb to Thee : 
Teach me v/ith art great Nature to control, 
And spread a lustre o'er the shades of night. 
Feel I thy kind assent ? and shall the Sun 
Be seen at midnight, rising in my song .'' 595 

Lorenzo ! come, and warm thee : thou, whose heart, 
Whose little heart, is moor'd within a nook 
Gf this obscure terrestrial, anchor weigh } 
Another ocean calls, a nobler port ; 
I am thy pilot, I thy prosperous gale : 600 ' 

Gainful thy voyage through yon azure main, 
Main without tempest, pirate, rock, or shore, 
And whence thou mayst import eternal wealth, 
And leave to beggar'd minds the pearl and gold. 
Thy travels dost thou boast o'er foreign realms ! GQiJ 
Thou stranger to the world ! thy tour begin ; 
Thy tour through Nature's universal orb. 
Nature delineates her v/hole chart at large, 
On soaring souls, that sail among the spheres ; 
And man how purblind, if unknown the whole. 610 
Who circles spacious earth, then travels here, 
Shall own he never was from home before. 
Come, ray Prometheus I* from thy pointed rock 
Of false ambition, if unchain'd, we'ii mount ; 
We'll, innocently, steal celestial fire, 615 

And kindle our devotion at the stars ; 
A theft that shall not chain, but set thee free. 

Above our atmosphere's intestine wars, 
Rain's fountain-head, the magazine of hail ; 
Above the northern nests of feather'd snows, 620 

^ * See Night the Eighth; p. 182. 



S-2G THE CONSOLATION. k. is 

The brew of thunders, and the flaming forge 

That forms the crooked lightning : 'bove the caves 

Where infant tempests wait their growing wings, 

And tune their tender voices to that roar, 

Which soon, perhaps, shall shake a guilty world ; 625 

Above misconstrued omens of the sky, 

Far travel'd comets' calculated blaze, 

Elance thy thought, an'd think of more than man : 

TJiy soul, till now contracted, wither'd, shrunk, 

Blighted by blasts of Earth's unwholesome air, 630 

Will blossom here ; spread all her faculties 

To these bright ardours ; every power unfold, 

And rise into sublimities of thought. 

Stars teach, as well as shine. At Nature's birtli 

Thus their commission ran. — ' Be kind to man.' 635 

Where art thou, poor benighted traveller ! 

The stars will light thee, though the moon should fail. 

Where art thou, more benighted,! more astray ! 

hi ways immoral ? the stars call thee back, 

And, if obey'd their counsel, set thee right. 640 

This prospect vast, what is it ? — Weigh'd aright 
'Tis Nature's system of divinity. 
And every student of the night inspires. 
'Tis elder Scripture, writ by God's own hand ; 
Scripture authentic ! uncorrupt by man. 645 

Lorenzo ! with my radius (the rich gift 
Of thought nocturnal) 111 point out to thee 
Its various lessons ; some that may surprise 
An unadept in mysteries of Night ; 
Little, perhaps, expected in her school, 650 

Nor thought to grow on planet or on star ; 
Bulls, lions, scorpions, monsters here XVe feign, 
Ourselves more monstrous, not to see what here 
Exists, indeed, — a lecture to mankind ! 

What read we here ? — the' existence of a God ? 65i> 
Yos : and of other beings, man above ; , 

Natives of ether ! sons of higher climes 1 '' 
And, wliat mav move liOrenzo's wonder more. 



THE CONSOLATION. 2'27 

Eternity is written in the skies. 

And whose eternity .' — Lorenzo ! thine ] G60 

Mankind's eternity. Nor faith alone, 
Virtue grows hero ; here springs the sovereign cure 
Of almost every vice, but chiefly thine, 
Wrath, pride, ambition, and impure desire. 

Lorenzo ! thou canst wake at midnight too, 6G5 
Though lot on morals bent. Ambition, Pleasure I 
Those tyrants I for thee so lately fought,* 
Afford their harass'd slaves but slender rest. 
Tliou, to whom midnight is immoral noon. 
And the sun's noontide blaze prime dawn of day, 670 
Not by thy climate, but capricious crime, 
Commencing one of our antipodes ! 
In thy nocturnal rove one moment halt, 
'Twixt stage and stage of riot and cabal, 
And lift thine eye (if bold an eye to lift, 675 

If bold to meet the face of injured Heaven) 
To yonder stars : for other ends they sliine 
Than to light revellers from shame to shame, 
And thus be made accomplices in guilt. 

Why from yon arch, that infinite of space, 680 

With infinite of lucid orbs replete, ^ 

Which set the living firmament on fire. 
At the first glance, in such an overwhelm 
Of wonderful on man's astonish'd sight 
Rushes Omnipotence ? — To curb our pride, 685 

Our reason rouse, and lead it to that Power 
Whose love lets down these silver chains of light ; 
To draw up man's ambition to himself, 
And bind our chaste affections to his throne. 
Thus the three virtues, least alive on earth, 690 

And welcomed on heaven's coast with most applause; 
An humble, pure, and heavenly minded heart. 
Are here inspired ; — and canst thou gaze too long ? 

Nor stands tliy wrath deprived of its reprocf, 
* In Ni^ht the Eighlli. 



228 THE CONSOLATION. nix. 

Or unupbraidod by this radiant choir. 605 

The planets of each system represent 
Kind neighbours ; mutuul amity prevails ; 
Sweet interchange of rays, received, return'd, 
Enlightening and enlighten'd ! all, at once, 
Attracting and attracted ! patriot-like, 700 

None sins against the welfare of the whole ; 
But their reciprocal, unselfish aid. 
Affords an emblem of millennial love. 
Nothing in nature, much less conscious being, 
Was e'er created solely for itself. 705 

Thus man his sovereign duty learns in this 
Material picture of benevolence. 

And know, of all our supercilious race. 
Thou most inflammable ! thou wasp of men I 
Man's angry heart, inspected, would be found 710 

As rightly set, as are the starry spiieres : 
'Tis Nature's structure broke, thy stubborn Will 
Breeds all that uncelestial discord there. 
Wilt thou not feel the bias Nature gave ? 
Canst thou descend from converse with the skies, 715 
And seize thy brother's throat ? — For what .-' — a clod ? 
An inch of earth ^ The planets cry, ' Forbear.' 
They chase our double darkness. Nature's gloom, 
And (kinder still !) our intellectual night. 

And see, Day's amiable sister sends 720 

Her invitation, in the softest rays 
Of mitigated lustre ; courts thy sight, 
Which suffers from her tyrant brother's blaze. 
Night grants thee the full freedom of the skies, 
Nor rudely reprimands thy lifted eye ; 725 

With gain and joy, she bribes thee to be wise. 
Night opes the noblest scenes, and sheds an awe 
Which gives those venerable scenes full weight, 
And deep reception in the' entender'd heart ; 
While light peeps through the darkness like a spy, 730 
And darkness shows its grandeur by the light ! 



THE CONSOLATION. 229 

Nor is tlie profit greater than the joy, 
If human hearts at glorious objects glow, 
And admiration can inspire delight. 

What speak I more than I this moment feel ? 725 
With pleasing stupor first the soul is struck, 
(Stupor ordain'd to make her truly wise !) 
Then into transport starting from her trance, 
With love and admiration how she glows ! 
This gorgeous apparatus ! this display I 740 

This ostentation of creative power ! 
This theatre ! — what eye can take it in ? 
By what divine enchantment was it raised, 
For minds of the first magnitude to launch 
In endless speculation, and adore ? 745 

One Sun by day, by night ten thousand shine, 
And light us deep into the Deity ; 
How boundless in magnificence and might ! 
O what a confluence of ethereal fires. 
From urns unnumber'd, down the steep of heaven 750 
Streams to a point, and centres in my sight ! 
Nor tarries there ; J feel it at my heart : 
My heart, at once, it humbles and exalts ; 
Lays it in dust, and calls it to the skies. • 
Who sees it unexalted, or unawed ? 755 

Who sees it, and can stop at what is seen ? 
Material offspring of Omnipotence ! 
Inanimate, all animating birth ! 
Work worthy him who made it I worthy praise ! 
All praise ! praise more than human ! nor denied 760 
Thy praise divine ! — But though man, drown'd in sleep, 
Withholds his homage, not alone I wake ; 
Bright legions swarm unseen, and sing unheard 
By mortal ear, the glorious Architect, 
In this his universal temple, hung 765 

With lustres, with innumerable lights, 
That shed religion on the soul ; at once 
The temple and the preacher ! O how loud 
It calls Devotion I genuine growth of Night ! 
20 



S30 THE CONSOLATION. n. ix 

Devotion ! daughter of Astronomy ! 770 

An undevout astronomer is mad. 
True ; all things speak a God ; but in the small, 
Men trace out Him ; in great, He seizes man ; 
Seizes, and elevates, and raps, and fills 
With new inquiries, mid associates new. 775 

Tell me, ye stars I ye planets ! tell me, all 
Ye Starr "d and planeted inhabitants ! what is it ? 
AVhat are these sons of wonder ? Say, proud Arch, 
(Within whose azure palaces they dwell) 
Built with divine ambition ! in disdain 780 

Of limit, built ! built in the taste of heaven ! 
Vast concave ! ample dome ! wast thou design'd 
A meet apartment for the Deity : — 
Not so ; that thought alone thy state impairs, 
Thy lofty sinks, and shallows thy profound, 785 

And strengthens thy diflusive ; dwarfs the whole, 
And makes a Universe an orrery. 

But when I drop mine eye, and look on man, 
Thy right regained thy grandeur is restored, 
O Nature ! wide flies off" the' expanding round : 790 
As wlien whole magazines, at once, are fired, 
The smitten air is hollow'd by the blow, 
The vast displosion dissipates the clouds, 
Shock'd ether's billows dash tiie distant skies ; 
Thus (but far more) the' expanding round flies off, 
And leaves a mighty void, a spacious womb, 79G 

Might teem with new creation ; reinflamed. 
Thy luminaries triumph, and assume 
Divinity themselves. Nor was it strange, 
Matter high-wrought to such surprising pomp, 800 
Such godlike glory, stole the style of gods, 
From ages dark, obtuse, and steep'd in sense : 
For sure to sense they truly are divine, 
And half absolved idolatry from guilt. 
Nay, turn'd it into virtue. Such it was 803 

In those, who put forth all they had of man 
Unlost, to lift their thought, nor mounted higher • 



. THE CONSOLATION. 22t 

But, weak of wing, on planets perch'd, and thought 
What was their highest must be their adored. 

But they how weak, who could no higher mount ? 
And are there, then, Lorenzo ! those to whom 811 
Unseen, and unexistent, are the same ? 
And if incompreht'i'.^ible is join'd. 
Who dare pronounce it madness to believe ? 
Why has the almighty Builder thrown aside 815 

All measure in his work ? stretch'd out his line 
So far, and spread amazement o'er the whole ? 
Then (as he took delight in wide extremes) 
Deep in the bosom of his Universe 
Dropp'd down that reasoning mite, that insect, man ! 
To crawl, and gaze, and wonder at the scene ? — 821 
That man might ne'er presume to plead amazement 
For disbelief of wonders in himself. 
Shall God be less miraculous than what 
His hand has formed.? shall mysteries descend 82» 
From unmysterious ? things more elevate, 
Be more familiar .' uncreated lie ^ 

More obvious than created, to the grasp- 
Of human thought ? The more of wonderful 
Is heard in Him, the more we should assent. 830 

Could we conceive him, God he could not be ; 
Or he not God, or we could not be men. 
A God alone can comprehend a God : 
Man's distance how immense ! On such a theme, 
Know this, Lorenzo ! (seem it ne'er so strange) 835 
Nothing can satisfy, but what confounds ; 
Nothing but what astonishes, is true. 
Tlie scene thou seest attests the truth I sing, 
And every star sheds light upon thy creed. 
These stars, this furniture, this cost of heaven, 840 
If but reported, thou hadst ne'er believed ; 
But thine eye tells thee, the romance is true. 
The grand of Nature is the' Almighty's oath, 
In Reason's court, to silence Unbelief. 

JIow my raiud, opening at this scene, imbibes St- 



33J2 THE CONSOLATION. n. is 

The moral emanations of the skies, 

While nought, perhaps, Lorenzo less admires ! 

Has the Great Sovereign sent ten thousand worlds 

To tell us, He resides above them all, 

In glory's unapproachable recess ? 850 

And dare earth's bold inhabitants deny 

The sumptuous, the magnific embassy, 

\ moment's audience ? Turn we, nor will hear 

From whom they come, or what they would impart 

For man's emolument ; sole cause that stoops 655. 

Their grandeur to man's eye ? Lorenzo ! rouse ; 

Let thought, awaken'd, take the lightning's wing, 

And glance from east to west, from pole to pole. 

Who sees, but is confounded or convinced ? 

Renounces reason, or a God adores ? 8G0 

Mankind was sent into the world to see : 

Sight gives the science needful to their peace ; 

That obvious science asks small learning's aid. 

Wouldst thou on metaphysic pinions soar ? 

Or wound thy patience amid logic thorns ? 863 ' 

Or travel history's enormous round ? 
I Nature no such hard task enjoins : she gavo 

A make to man directive of his thought ; 

A make set upright, pointing to the stars. 

As who shall say, ' Read thy chief lesson there.' 870' 

Too late to read this manuscript of heaven. 

When, like a parchment scroll, shrunk up by flames, 

It folds Lorenzo's lesson from his sight. 
Lesson how various ! not the God alone, 
see his ministers ; I see, diffused 875 

m radiant orders, essences sublime, 

G)f various offices, of various plume, 

li heavenly liveries distinctly clad, 

Izure, green, purple, pearl, or downy gold, 

■-Jt all commix'd ; they stand, with wings outspread 

Xjistening to catch the Master's least command, 881. 

And fly through nature ere the moment ends ; 

Ivumbers innumerable ! — Well conceived 



THE CONSOLATION. 233 

By Pagan and by Christian I O'er each spliere 

Presides an^ngel, to direct its course, 885 

And feed, or fan, its flames ; or to discharge 

Other high trusts unknown ; for who can see 

Such pomp of matter, and imagine mind 

(For which alone inanimate was made) 

More sparingly dispensed ? that nobler son, 890 

Far liker the great Sire ! — 'Tis thus the skips 

Inform us of superiors numberless. 

As much, in excellence, above mankind, 

As above earth, in magnitude, the spheres. 

These, as a cloud of v/itnesses, hang o'er us : . 895 

In a throng'd theatre are all our deeds. 

Perhaps a thousand demigods descend 

On every beam we see, to walk with men. 

Awful reflection ! strong restraint from ill ! 

Yet here, our virtue finds still stronger aid 900 

From these ethereal glorias sense surveys. 
Something, like magic, strikes from this blue vault : 
With just attention is it vicw'd .'' we feel 
A sudden succour, uniraplored, unthought. 
Pfature herself does half the work of man. 905 

Seas, rivers, mountains, forests, deserts, rocks, 
The promontory's height, the depth profound 
Of subterranean excavated grots, 
Black-brow d, and vaulted high, and yawning wide, 
From Nature's structure, or the scoop of Time ; 910 
If ample of dimension, vast of size, 
E'en these an aggrandizing impulse give ; 
Of solemn thought enthusiastic neights 
E'en these infuse. — But what of vast in these .'' 
Nothing — or we must own the skies forgot. 915 

Much less in art. — Vain Art ! thou pigmy power ! 
How dost thou swell, and strut, with human pride, 
To show thy littleness ! What childish toys, 
Thy watery columns squirted to the clouds ! 
Thy bason'd rivers and imprison'd seas ! 020 

Thy mountains moulded into forms of men ! 
20" 



2U THE COiXSOLATiON. n. ix. 

Thy hunured-gatcd capitals 1 or those 

Where three days' travel left us much to ride ; 

Gazing on miracles by mortals wrought, 

Arches triumphal, theatres immense, 925 

Or nodding gardens pendent in mid air ! 

Or temples proud to meet their gods half-way ! 

Yet these affect us in no common kind: 

What then the force of such superior scenes ? 

Enter a temple, it will strike an a^ve : 930 

What awe from this the Deity has built ? 

A good man seen, though silent, counsel gives : 

The tou^jh'd spectator wishes to be wise. 

In a bright mirror His own hands have made, 

Here we see something like the face of God. 935 

Seems it not then enough to say, Lorenzo, 

To man abandon'd, ' Hast thou seen the skies?' 

And yet, so thwarted Nature's kind design 
By daring man, he makes her sacred awe 
(That guard from ill) his shelter, his temptation 940 
To more than common guilt, and quite inverts 
Celestial Art's intent." The trembling stars 
See crimes gigantic, stalking through the gloom 
With front erect, that hide their head by da}'^, 
And making night still darker by their deeds. 945 

Slumbering in covert, till the shades descend, 
Rapine and Murder, link'd, now prowl for prey. 
The miser earths his treasure ; and the thief, 
Watching the mole, half beggars him ere morn. 
Nov/ plots and foul conspiracies awake, 950 

And, muffling up their horrors from the moon, 
Havock and devastation they prepare, 
And kingdoms tottering in the field of blood. 
Now sons of riot in raid-revel rage. 
What shall I do ? — suppress it .'' or proclaim ? — 955 
Why sleeps the thunder ? Now, Lorenzo ! now 
His best friend's couch the rank adulterer 
Ascends secure, and laughs at gods and men. 
Preposterous madmen. vr>id of fear or shame, 



THE COJNSOLATION. 235 

Lay their crimes bare to these chaste eyes of heaven, 
Yet shrink and shudder at a mortal's sight. 961 

Were moon and stars for villains only made, 
To guide, yet screen them, with tenebrious light ? 
No ; they were made to fashion the sublime 
Of human hearts, and wiser make the wise. 965 

Those ends were answer'd once, when mortals lived 
Of stronger wing, of aquiline ascent, 
In theory sublime. O how unlike 
Those vermin of the night, this moment sung, 
Who crawl on earth, and en her venom feed 1 970 
Those ancient sages, human stars ! they met 
Their brothers of the skies at midnight hour, 
Their counsel ask'd, and what they ask'd obey'd. 
The Stagirite, and Plato, he who drank 
The poisoned bowl, and he of Tusculum, ^ 975 

With him of Corduba, (immortal names !) 
In these unbounded and Elysian walks, 
An area fit for gods and godlike men. 
They took their nightly round, through radiant paths, 
By seraphs trod ; instructed, chiefly, thus, 980 

To tread in their bright footsteps here below, 
To walk in worth still brighter tlian the skies. 
There they contracted their contempt of earth ; 
Of hopes eternal kindled there the fire ; 
There, as in near approach, they glow'd, and grew 985 
(Great visitants !) more intimate with God, 
More worth to men, more joyous to themselves. 
Through various virtues they, with ardour, ran 
The zodiac of their learn'd illustrious lives. 

In Christian hearts, O for a Pagan zeal ! 990 

A needful, but opprobrious prayer ! as much 
Our ardour less, as greater is our light. 
How monstrous this in morals ! Scarce more strange 
Would this phenomenon in nature strike, 
A sun that froze us, or a star that warm'd. 995 

What taught these heroes of the moral world? 
To these thou givest thy praise, give credit too. 



^36 THE CONSOLATI6N y. .X. 

These doctors ne'er were pension'd to deceive thee, 

And Pagan tutors are thy taste. — They taught, 

That narrow views betray to misery ; 1000 

That wise it is to comprehend the whole ; 

That virtue rose from Nature ; ponder'd well, 

The single base of virtue built to Heaven ; 

That God and Nature our attention clann ; 

That Nature is the glass reflecting God, 1005 

As, by the sea, reflected is the sun, 

Too glorious to be gazed on in his sphere ; 

That mind immortal loves immortal aims ; 

That boundless mind affects a boundless space ; 

That vast survej'-s, and the sublime of things, lOlO 

The soul assimilate, and make her great ; 

That, th^efore, heaven her glories, as a fund 

Of inspiration, thus spreads out to man. 

Such are their doctrines ; such the Night inspired. 

And what more true ? what truth of greater weight? 
The soul of man was made to walk the skies, 1016 
Delightful outlet of her prison here ! 
There, discncumber'd from her chains, the ties 
Of toys terrestrial, she can rove at large ; 
There freely can respire, dilate, extend, 1020 

In full proportion let loose all her powers, 
And, undeluded, grasp at something great. 
Nor as a stranger does she wander there. 
But, wonderful herself, through wonder strays ; 
Contemplating their grandeur, finds her own ; ' 1025. 
Dives deep in their economy divine, 
Sits high in judgment on their various laws, 
And, like a master, judges not amiss. 
Hence greatly pleased, and justly proud, the soul 
Grows conscious of her birth celestial ; breathes 1030 
More life, more vigour, in her native air, 
And feels herself at home among the stars. 
And, feeling, emulates her country's praise. 

What call we, then, the firmament, Lorenzo P--- 
As earth the bodv. since the skies sustain 1035 



THE CONSOLATION 237 

The soul with food that gives immortal lire. 
Call it the noble pasture of the mind, 
Which there expatiates, strengthens, and exults, 
And riots through the luxuries of thought. 
Call it the garden of the Deity, 1040 

Blossom'd with stars, redundant in the growth 
Of fruit ambrosial, moral fruit to man. 
Call it the breast-plate of the true High-priest, 
Ardent with gems oracular, that give 
In points of highest moment, right response ; 1045 
And ill neglected, if we prize our peace. 
Thus have we found a true astrology ; 
Thus have we found a new and noble sense, 
In which alone stars govern human fates. 

that the stars (as some have feign'd) let fall 1050 
Bloodshed and havoc on embattled realms, 

And rescued monarchs from so black a guilt I 
Bourbon ! this wish how generous in a foe ^ 
Wouldst thou be great, wouldst thou become a god, 
And stick thy deathless name among the stars, 1055 
For mighty conquests on a needle's point ^ 
Instead of forging chains for foreigners ; 
Bastile, thy tutor ; grandeur, all thy aim ? 
And yet thou know'st not what it is. How great, 
How glorious, then appears the mind of man, 10G() 
When in it all the stars and planets roll ! 
And what it seems, it is. Great objects make 
Great minds, enlarging as their views enlarge ; 
Those still more godlike as these more divine. 

And more divine than these, thou canst not see. 
Dazzled, o'erpower'd, with the delicious draught 1066 
Of miscellaneous splendours, how I reel 
From thought to thought, inebriate, without end ! 
An Eden this ! a Paradise unlost ! 

1 meet the Deity in every view, 107O 
And tremble at my nakedness before him ! 

O that I could but reach the tree of life ' 
For here it grows unguarded from our taste j. 



238 THE CONSOLATION. ». n 

No flaming sword denies our entrance here : 

Would man but gather, he might live for ever. 1075 

Lorenzo ! much of moral hast tliou seen : 
Of curious arts art thou more fond ? then mark 
The mathematic glories of tiie skies, 
In number, weight, and measure, all ordain'd. 
Lorenzo's boasted builders. Chance and Fate, 1080' 
Are left to finish his aerial towers ; 
Wisdom and Clioice, their well known characters 
Here deep impress, and claim it for their own. 
Though splendid all, no splendour void of use. 
Use rivals beauty, art contends with power ; 1085 

No wanton waste amid effuse expense, 
The great Economist adjusting all 
To [Hudent pomp, magnificently wise. 
How rich the prospect ! and for ever new ; 
And newest, to the man that views it most ; 1090' 

For newer still in infinite succeeds. 
Then these atirial racers, O how swift ! 
How the shall loiters from the strongest string ; 
Spirit alone can distance the career, 
Orb above orb ascending, without end ! J095 

Circle in ciicle, without end, enclosed ! 
Wheel within wheel, Ezekiel, like to thine ' 
Like thine, it seems a vision or a dream ; 
Though seen, we labour to believe it true ! 
• What involution ! wliat extent! what swarms 1100 
Of worlds, that laugh at earth ! immensely great ! 
Lnmenscly distant from each other's spheres ! [roll .' 
What, then, the wondrous space thrAugh which they 
At once it quite ingulfs all human thought ; 
'Tis Comprehension's absolute defeat. 1105 

Nor think thou seest a wild disorder here : 
Through this illustrious chaos to the sight, 
Arrangement neat and chastest order reign. 
The path prescribed, inviolably kept, 
Upbraids the lawless sallies of mankind. 1110 

Worlds, ever thwarting, never interfere; 



THE CONSOLATION. 2;^^ 

Whal knots are tied ! how soon are they dissolved, 
And set the seeming married planets free ! 
They rove for ever, without error rove > 
Confusion unconfused ! nor less admire. 1115 

This tumult untumultuous ; all on wing ! 
In motion all ! yet what profound repose ! 
What fervid action, yet no noiso ! as awed 
To silence by the presence of tlieir Lord; 
Or hush'd by his command, in love to man, 1120 

And bid let fall sof* beams on human rest, 
Resilesa themselves. On yon cerulean plain, 
In exultation to their God and tliine. 
They dance, they sing eternal jubilee, 
Eternal celebration of his praise ! 1125 

But since their song arrives not at our ear, 
Their dance perplex'd exhibits to the sight 
Fair hieroglyphic of his peerless power. 
Mark how the labyrinthian turns they take, 
The circles intricate, and mystic maze, 1130 

"Weave the grand cipher of Omnipotence ; 
To gods how great ! how legible to man ! 

Leaves so much wonder greater wonder still ! 
Where are the pillars that support the skies ? 
What more than Atlantean shouHer"props 1135 

The' incumbent load ? what magic, what strange art, 
In fluid air these ponderous orbs sustains .' 
Who would not think them hung in-golden chains ? — 
And so they are ; in the high will of Heaven, 
Which fi;ies all ; makes adamant of air, 1140 

Or air of adamant ; makes all of nought, 
Or nought of all, if such the dread decree. 

Imagine from their deep foundations torn 
The most gigantic sons of earth, the broad 
And towering Alps, all toss'd into the sea ; 1145 

And, light as down, or volatile as air. 
Their bulks enormous dancing on the waves, 
In time and measure exquisite ; while all 
The winds, in emulation of tne spheres, ,, * 



240 THE CONSOLATION. k. ix. 

Tune their sonorous instruments aloft 1150 

The concert swell, and animate the ball. 

Would this appear amazing ? — what then worlds 

In a far thinner element sustain'd, 

And acting the same part with greater skill, 

More rapid movement, and for noblest ends .? 1155 

More obvious ends to pass, are not these stars 
The seats majestic, proud imperial thrones. 
On which angelic delegates of Heaven, 
At certain periods, as the Sovereign nods, 
Discharge high trusts of vengeance or of love, 1160 
To clothe in outward grandeur grand design, 
And acts more solemn still more solemnize ^ 
Ye citizens of air ! what ardent thanks, 
What full effusion of the grateful heart, 
Is due from man, indulged in such a sight ' 1165 

A sight so noble ! and a sight so kind ! 
It drops new truths at every new survey ' 
Feels not Lorenzo something stir within, 
That sweeps away all period ? As these spheres 
Measure duration, they no less inspire 1170 

The godlike hope of ages without end. 
The boundless space, through which these rovers take 
Their restless roam, suggests the sister thought 
Of boundless time. Thus, by kind Nature's skill, 
To man unlabour'd, that important guest, 1175 

Eternity, finds entrance at the sight } 
And an eternity for man ordain'd, 
Or these his destined midnight counsellors, 
The stars had never whisper'd it to man. 
Nature informs, but ne'er insults, her sons : 1180 

Could she, then, kindle the most ardent wish 
To disappoint it .? — That is blasphemy ! 
Thus of thy creed a second article, 
Momentous as the' existence of a God, 
Is found (as I conceive) where rarely sought, 1183 
And thou mayst read thy soul immortal here. 

Iferej then; Lorenzo 1 on these glories dwell; 



THE CONSOLATION. 241 

ISor want the gilt, illuminated roof, 

That calls the wretched gay to dark delights. 

Assemblies ? — this is one divinely bright ; 1190 

Here, unendanger'd in health, wealth, or fame, 

Range through the fairest, and the Sultan scorn. 

He, wise as thou, no Crescent holds so fair 

As that which on his turban awes a world, 

And thinks the Moon is proud to copy him. 1195 

Look on her, and gain more than worlds can give, 

A mind superior to the charms of pov/er 

Thou, muffled in delusions of this life ! 

Can yonder moon turn Ocean in his bed 

From side to side in constant ebb and flow, 1200 

And purify from stench his watery realms .'' 

And fails her moral influence ? wants she power 

To turn Lorenzo's stubborn tide of thought 

From stagnating on earth's infected shore, 

And purge from nuisance his corrupted heart ? 1205 

Fails her attraction, when it draws to- Heaven ? 

Nay, and to what thou valuest more, earth's joy .'' 

Minds elevate, and panting for unseen, 

And defecate from sense, alone obtain 

Full relish of existence undeflower'd, 1210 

The life of life, the zest of worldly bliss; 

All else on earth amounts — to what ? to this : 

* Bad to be suffer'd. blessings to be left :' 

Earth's richest inventory boasts no more. 

Of higher scenes be then the call obey'd. 1215 

O let me gaze ! — of gazmg there's no end. 
O let me think ! — thought, too, is wilder 'd here ; 
In midway flight Imagination tires ; 
Yet soon reprunes her wing to soar anew, 
Her point unable to forbear or gain ; 1220 

So great the pleasure, so profound the plan ! 
A banquet this, where men and angels meet, 
Eat the same manna, mingle Earth and Heaveo. 
How distant some of these nocturnal suns ! 
So distaut (says the sage) 'twere ttOt abSHrU V^o 
21 



242 THE CONSOLATION. n. ix 

To doubt if beams, eet out at Nature's birth, 

Are 3^et arrived at this so foreign world, 

Though nothing half so rapid as their flight. 

An eye of awe and wonder let me roll, 

And roll for ever. Who can satiate sight 1230 

In such a scene ? in such an ocean wide 

Of deep astonishment? where depth, height, breadth, 

Are lost in their extremes ; and where to count 

The thick-sown glories in this field of fire, 

Perhaps a seraph's computation fails. 1235 

Now go, Ambition ! boast thy boundless might 

In conquest o'er the tenth part of a grain. 

And yet Lorenzo calls for miracles, 
To give his tottering faith a solid base. 
"Why call for less than is already thine ? 1240 

Thou art no novice m theology ; 
What is a miracle ? — 'Tis a reproach, 
'Tis an implicit satire on mankind. 
And while it satisfies, it censures too. , 
To common sense great Nature's course proclaims 
A Deity : When mankind falls asleep, 1246 

A miracle is sent as an alarm 
To wake the world, and prove him o'er again,* 
By recent argument, but not more strong. 
Say which imports more plenitude of power, 1250 
Or Nature's laws to fix, or to repeal .'' 
To make a Sun, or stop his mid career .-• 
To countermand his orders, and send back 
The flaming courier to the frighted East, 
Warm'd and astonish'd at his evening ray ; 1255 

Or bid the Moon, as with her journey tired, 
In Ajalon's soft flowery vale repose ? 
Great things are these .'' still sweater to create. 
IVom Adam's bower look down through the whole train 
Of miracles ; — resistless is their power .'' 1260 

They do not, cannot, more amaze the mind, 
Than this, call'd unmiraculous survey, 
If duly weigh'd, if rationally seen, 



THE CONSO-!.ATIOX. 243 

If seen n'ith human eyes. The brute, indeed, 

Sees nought but spangles here ; the fool, no more. 

Say'st thou, * The course of Nature governs all ?' 1266 

The course of Nature is the Art of God. 

The miracles, thou call'st for, this attest ; 

For say, could Nature Nature's course control .'' 

But, miracles apart, who sees him not 1270 

Nature's Controller, Author, Guide, and End ? 
Who turns his eye on Nature's midnight face, 
But must inquire — ' What hand behind the scene, 
What arm Almighty, put these wheeling globes 
In motion, and wound up the vast machine ? 1275 

Who rounded in his palm these spacious orbs .•* 
Who bowl'd them flaming through the dark profound, 
Numerous as glittering gems of morning dew, 
Or sparks from populous cities in a blaze, 
And set the bosom of old Night on fire, 1280 

Peopled her desert, and made Horror smile ?' 
Gr if the military style delights thee, 
(Far stars have fought their battles, leagued with man) 
* Who marshals this bright host ? enrols their names* 
Appoints tlieir post, their marches, and returns, 1235 
Punctual, at stated periods ? who disbands 
These veteran troops, their final duty done, 
If e'er disbanded ?' — He, whose potent word, 
Like the loud trumpet, levied first their powers 
In Night's inglorious empire, where they slept 1290 
In beds of darkness ; arm'd them with ticrce flames ; 
Arranged, and disciplined, and clothed in gold, 
And call'd them out of Chaos to the field, 
Where now they v/ar with Vice and Unbelief. 
O'let us join this army ! joining these 1295 

Will give us hearts intrepid, at that hour 
When brighter flames shall cut a darker night ; 
When these strong demonstrations of a God 
Shall hide their heads, or tumble from their spheres, 
And one eternal curtain cover all ! 1300 

Struck at that thQught, as new-awaked, I lift 



844 THE CONSOLATION. n. ix. 

A more enlighten'd eye, and read the stars 

To man still more propitious, and their aid 

(Though guiltless of idolatry) implore, 

Nor longer rob them of their noblest name. 1305 

O ye dividers of my time ! ye bright 

Accomptants of my days, and months, and years, 

In your fair calendar distinctly mark'd ! 

Since that authentic, radiant register, 1300 

Though man inspects it not, stands good against him j 

Since you and years roll on, though man stands still, 

Teach me my days to number, and apply 

My trembling heart to wisdom, now beyond 

All shadow of excuse for fooling on. 

Age smooths our path to prudence ; sweeps aside 1315 

The snares keen appetite and passion spread 

To catch stray souls ; and woe to that gray head 

Whose folly would undo what age has done ! 

Aid, then, aid, all ye "Stars ! — Much rather Thou, 

Great Artist ! Thou whose finger set aright ISSO 

This exquisite machine, with all its wheels. 

Though intervolved, exact ; and pointing out 

jjife's rapid and irrevocable flight. 

With such an index fair as none can miss 

Who lifts an eye, nor sleeps till it is closed. 1325 

Open mine eye, dread Deity ! to read 

The tacit doctrine of thy works ; to see 

Things as they are, unalter'd through the glass 

Of worldly wishes. Time, Eternity ! 

('Tis these, mismeasured, ruin all mankind) 1330 

Set them before me ; let me lay them both 

In equal scale, and learn their various weight. 

Let time appear a moment, as it is } 

And let Eternity's full orb, at once. 

Turn on my soul, and strike it into Heaven. 1335 

V/hen shall I see far more than charms me now 

Gaze on Creation's model in thy breast 

Unveil'd, nor wonder at the transcript more 

When this vile, foreign dust^ which smothers all 



THE CONSOLATION^. 245 

That travel earth's deep vale, shall I shake off? 1348 
When shall my soul her incarnation quit,. 
And, readopted to thy bless'd embrace, 
Obtain her apotheosis in thee ? — 

Dost think, Lorenzo, this is wandering wide ? 
No ; 'tis directly striking at the mark. 1345 

To wake thy dead devotion was my point ; 
And how I bless Night's consecrating shades, 
Which to a temple turn a universe ; 
Fill us with great ideas, full of heaven, 
And antidote the pestilential earth ! 13^ 

Li every storm, that either frowns or falls,. 
What an asylum has the soul in prayer ! 
And what a fane is this, in which to pray ! 
And what a God must dwell in such a fane i 
O what a genius must inform the skies ! 1355 

And is Lorenzo's salamander heart 
Cold, and untouch'd, amid these sacred fires ? 
O ye nocturnal sparks ! ye glowing embers, 
On Heaven's broad hearth ! Who burn, or burn no more, 
Who blaze, or die, as great Jehovah's breath 1360 
Or blows you or forbears, assist my song ! 
Pour your vrhole influence ; exercise his heart, 
(So long possess'd, and bring him back to man. 

And is Lorenzo a demurrer still ? 
Pride in thy parts provokes thee to contest 1365 

Truths v/hich, contested, put thy parts to shame : 
Nor shame they more Lorenzo's head than heart, 
A faithless heart, how despicably small ! 
Too straight, aught great or generous to receive I 
Fill'd with an atom ! fill'd and foul'd with self! 1370 
And self-mistaken ! self, that lasts an hour ! 
Inetincts and passions of the nobler kind 
Lie suffocated there ; or they alone, 
Reason apart, would wake high hope, and open. 
To ravish'd thought, that intellectual sphere, 1373^ 
Where Order, Wisdom, Goodness, Providence, 
Their endless miracles of lovo display, 
21^ 



240 THE CONSOLATION. 5. is. 

And promise all the truly great desire. 

The mind that would be happy fnust be great ; 

Great in its wishes, great in its surveys. 1380 

Extended views a narrow mind extend, 

Push out its corrugate, expansive make, 

Which, ere long, more than planets shall embrace. 

A man of compass makes a man of worth : 

Divine contemplate, and become divine ! 1385 

As man was made for glory and for bliss, 
All littleness is an approach to woe. 
Open thy bosom, set thy wishes wide, 
And let in manhood ; let in happiness ; 
Admit the boundless theatre of thought 1300 

From nothing, up to God ; which makes a man. 
Take God from Nature, nothing great is left ; 
Man's mind is in a pit, and nothing sees ; 
Man's heart is in a jakes, and loves the mire. 
Emerge from thy profound ; erect thine eye ; 1395 
Sec thy distress ! how close art thou besieged I 
Besieged by Nature, the proud sceptic's foe ! 
Enclosed by these innumerable worlds. 
Sparkling conviction on the darkest mind, 
As in a golden net of Providence, 1400 

How art thou caught, sure captive of belief ! 
From this thy bless'd captivity what art. 
What blasphemy to reason, sets thee free ! 
This scene is Heaven's indulgent violence ; 
Canst thou bear up against this tide of glory ? 1405 
What is earth, bosom'd in these ambient orbs,< 
But faith in God imposed, and press'd on man ? 
Darest thou still litigate thy desperate cause, 
Spite of these numerous, awful witnesses. 
And doubt the deposition of the skies -* 1410 

O how laborious is thy way to ruin ! 

Laborious ? 'tis impracticable quite : 
To sink beyond a doubt in this debate, 
With all his weight of wisdom and of will, 
And crinic flagitious, I defy a fool. 1415 



I'llE CONSOLATION. 247 

Some wish they did, but no man disbelieves. 

* God is a Spirit ; spirit cannot strike 

These gross material organs ; God by man 

As much is seen, as man a God can see. 

In these astonishing exploits of power, 1420 

What order, beauty, motion, distance, size ! 

Concertion of design, how exquisite ! 

How complicate in their divine police ! 

Apt means ! great ends ! consent to general good t — ■ 

Each attribute of these material gods, 1425 

So long (and that with specious pleas) adored, 

A separate conquest gains o'er rebel thought, 

And leads in triumph the whole mind of man.' 

Lorenzo ! this may seem harangue to thee ; 
Such all is apt to seem, that thwarts our will. 1430 
And dost thou, then, demand a simple proof 
Of this great master-moral of the skies, 
Unskiird, or disinclin'd, to read it there ? 
Since 'tis the basis, and all drops without it, 
Take it in one compact, unbroken chain. J435 

Such proof insists on an attentive ear, 
'Twill not make one amid a mob of thoughts, 
And for thy notice struggle with the world. 
Retire; — the world shut out; — thy thoughts call home;-- 
Imagination's airy wing repress ; — 1440 

Lock up thy senses ; — let no passion stir ;-^ 
Wake all to Reason ; — let her reign alone , — 
Then in tliy soul's deep silence, and the depth 
Of Nature's silence, midnight, thus inquire, 
As I have done, and shall inquire no more. 1445 

In Nature's channel thus the questions run : 

' What am I ? and from whence ? —I nothing know 
But that I am ; and since I am, conclude 
Something eternal ; had there e'er been nought, 
Nought still had been : eternal there must be. — 1450 
But what eternal ? — Why not human race .' 
And Adam's ancestors without an end ? — 
That's hard to be conceived^ since every link 



m^ THE CONSOLATION. 5. a. 

Of that long-chain'd succession is so frail. 

Can every part depend, and not the whole ? 1455 

Yet grant it true, new difficulties rise ; 

I'm still quite out at sea, nor see the shore. 

"Whence earth, and these bright orbs ? — Eternal too ' 

Grant matter was eternal, still these orbs 

Would want some other father ; — much design 1460 

Is seen in all their motions, all their makes. 

Design implies intelligence and art ; 

That can't be from themselves — or man : that art 

Man scarce can comprehend, could man bestow ? 

And nothing greater yet allow'd, than man. — 1465 

Who motion, foreign to the smallest grain, 

Shot through vast masses of enormous weight ? 

Who bid brute matter's restive lump assume 

Such various forms, and gave it wings to fly ? 

Has matter innate motion ? then each atom, 1470 

Asserting its indisputable right 

To dance, would form a universe of dust : 

Has matter none ? then whence these glorious forms 

And boundless flights, from shapeless and reposed ? 

Has matter more than motion ? has it thought, 1475 

Judgment, and genius ? is it deeply learn'd 

In mathematics ? has it framed such laws, 

Which, but to guess, a Newton made immortal .^— 

If so, how each sage atom laughs at me, 

Who think a clod inferior to a man I 1480 

If art to form, and counsel to conduct, 

And that with greater far thaa human skill, 

B-esides not in each block, — a Godhead reigns I — 

Grant, then, invisible, eternal Mind ; 

That granted, all is solved : — but granting that, 1485 

Draw I not o'er me a still darker cloud .'' 

Grant I not that which I can ne'er conceive f 

A being without origin or end I — 

Hail, human I/iberty ! there is no God — 

"let why ? on either scheme that not subsists ; 1490 

Subsist it mwnt, in God or human race ; 



THE C01??S0LATI0N. 241) 

Jfiu the last, how many knots beside, 
indissoluble all ? — why choose it there 
Where, chosen, still subsist ten thousand more ? 
Reject it where, that chosen, all the rest 149» 

Dispersed, leave Reason's whole horizon clear ?■— 
This is not Reason's dictate ; Reason says, 
Close with the side where one grain turns the scale : 
What vast preponderance is here ! can Reason 
With louder voice exclaim — " Believe a God ?" 1500 
And Reason heard, is the sole mark of man. 
What things impossible must man think true, 
On any other system ! and how strange 
To disbelieve, through mere credulity !' 

If in this chain Lorenzo finds no flaw, 1505 

Let it for ever bind him to belief. 
And where the link, in which a flaw he finds ? 
And if a God there is, that God how great ! 
How great that Power whose providential care 
Through these bright orbs' dark centres darts a ray ! 
Of Nature universal threads the whole ! 1511 

And hangs Creation, like a precious gem, 
Though little, on the footstool of his throne ! 

That little gem, how large ! A weight let fall 
From a fix'd star, in ages can it reach 1515 

This distant earth ? Say, then, Lorenzo ! where, 
Where ends this mighty building ? where begin 
The suburbs of Creation ? where the wall 
Whose battlements look o'er into the vale 
Of nonexistence .'' Nothing's strange abode ! 1520 

Say, at what point of space Jehovah dropp'd 
His slacken'd line, and laid his balance by ; 
Weigh'd worlds, and measured infinite no more ? 
Where rears his terminating pillar high 
Its extramundane head ? and says to gods, 15S5 

In characters illustrious as the Sun, 
* I stand, the plan's proud period ;. I pronounce 
The work accomplisli'd ; the Creation closed : 
Shout, all ye Gods ! nor shout, ye Gods, alone ; 



250 THE CONSOLATIOjS'. k. tr 

Of all that lives, or, if devoid of life, 1530 

That redta, or rolls ; ye Heights and Depths, resound ! 
Resound ! resound ! ye Depths and Heights, resound !' 

Hard are those questions ? — answer harder still. 
Is this the sole exploit, the single birth, 
The solitary son of Power Divine ? 1535. 

Or has the' Almighty Father, with a breath, 
Impregnated the womb of distant Space ? 
Has he not bid, in various provinces, 
Brother creations the dark bowels burst 
Of Night primeval, barren nov/ no more ? 1540 

And He, the central Sun, transpiercing all 
Those giant generations, which disport 
And dance, as motes, in his meridian ray ;- 
That ray v.'ithdrawn, benighted, or absorbed 
In that abyss of horror whence they sprung ; 1545- 
"While Chaos triumphs, repossess'd of all 
Rival Creation ravish'd fi-om his throne ? 
Chaos ! of Nature both the womb and grave ! [wide ? 

Think'st thou my scheme, Lorenzo, spreads too 
Is this extravagant ? — No ; this is just ; 1550- 

Just in conjecture, though 'twere false in fact. 
If 'tis an error, 'tis an error sprung 
From noble root, high thought of the Most High. 
But wherefore error ? who can prove it such ? — 
He that can set Omnipotence a boundT 1555 

Can man conceive beyond what G»d can do ? 
Nothing, but quite impossible, is hard. 
He summons into being, with like ease, 
A whole creation, and a single grain. 
Hpeaks he the word ? a thousand worlds are born ! 15G0^ 
A thousand worlds i there's space for millions more ; 
And in what space can his great fiat fail ? 
Condemn me not, cold critic ! but indulge- 
The warm imagination : why condemn .■' 
Why not indulge such thoughts as swell our hearts 
"With fuller admiration of that Power 156^ 

"Who gives our hearts with such high thoughts to 8W«11 . 



THE CONSOLATION. . 251 

"Why not indulge in his augmented praibo ? 

Darts not his glory a still brighter ray, 

The less is left to Chaos, and the realms 1570 

Of hideous Night, where Fancy strays aghast, 

And, though most talkative, makes no report ? 

Still seems my thought enormous ? think again ; — 
Experience 'self shall aid thy lame belief. 
Glasses, (that revelation to the sight I) 1575 

Have they not led us in the deep disclose 
Of fine-spun Nature, exquisitely small. 
And, though demonstrated, still ill conceived ? 
If, then, on the reverse the mind would mount 
in magnitude, what mind can mount too far, 1530 
To keep the balance, and creation poise ? 
Defect alone can err on such a theme : 
What is too great, if we the cause survey ? 
Stupendous Architect ! Thou, Thou, art all ! 
My soul flies up and down in thoughts of Thee, 1583 
And finds herself Cut at the centre still ! 
I AM, thy name ' existence, all thine own ! 
Creation's nothing, flatter'd much, if styled 
* The thin, the fleeting atmosphere of God.' 

O for the voice — of what ? of whom ? — what voice 
Can answer to my wants, in such ascent 1591 

As dares to deem one universe too small .•' 
Tell me, Lorenzo ! (for now Fancy glows, 
Fired in the vortex of almighty power) 
Is not this home-creation, in the map loOS 

Of universal Nature, as a speck, 
Like fair Britannia in our little ball ; 
Exceeding fair and glorious, for its size, 
But, elsewhere, far outmeasured, far outshonQ ? 
In fancy (for the fact beyond us lies) 1600 

Canst thou not figure it, an isle, a'most 
Too small for notice in the vast of being ; 
Sever'd by mighty seas of unbuilt space 
From other realms ; from ample continents 
Of higher life, where nobltr. "atives dwell ; IG05 



^52 THE CONSOLATION. >-. ix 

Less northern, less remote from Deity. 

Glowing beneath the line of the Supreme, 

Where souls in excellence make haste, put fortli 

Luxuriant growths, nor the late autumn wait 

Of human worth, but ripen soon to gods ? 1610 

Yet why drown Fancy in such depths as these ? 
Return, presumptuous rover ! and confess 
The bounds of man, nor blame them, as too small. 
Enjoy we not full scope in what is seen .'' 
Full ample the dominions of the Sun ! 1615 

Full glorious to behold ! how far, how wide, 
The matchless monarch from his flaming throne, 
Lavish of lustre, throws his beams about him, 
Farther and faster than a thought can fly, 
And feeds his planets with eternal fires ! 1G20 

This Heliopolis by greater far 
Than the proud tyrant of the Nile was built j 
And He alone who built it can destroy. 
Beyond this city why strays human thought ? 
One wonderful, enough for man to know ! ljQ^5 

One infinite, enough for man to range ! 
One firmament, enough for man to read ! 
O what voluminous instruction here ! 
What page of wisdom is denied him ? none, 
If learning his chief lesson makes him wise. 1630 

Nor is instruction here our only gain : 
There dwells a noble pathos in the skies. 
Which warms our passions, proselytes our hearts. 
How eloquently shines the glowing pole ! 
With what authority it gives its charge, 1035 

Remonstrating great truths in style sublime, 
Though silent, loud ! heard earth around ; above 
The planets heard ; and not unheard in Hell ! 
Hell has her wonde.-, though too proud to praise. 
Is earth, then, more infernal ? has she those 16^0 

Who neither praise (Lorenzo !) nor admire ? 

Lorenzo's admiration, preengaged, 
Ne'er ask'd the Moon one question ? p.ever heM 



THE CONSOLATION 25'i 

iLeast correspondence with a single star ; 
Ne'er rear'd an altar to the queen of heaven 1G45 

Walking in brightness, or her train adored. 
Their sublunary rivals have long since 
Engross'd his whole devotion ; stars malign, 
Which made the fond astronomer run mad, 
Darken his intellect, corrupt his heart ; 1650 

Cause him to sacrifice his fame and peaee 
To momentary madness, call'd delight : 
Idolater more gross, than ev^er kiss'd 
The lifted hand to Luna, or pour'd out 
The blood to Jove ! — O Thou, to whom belongs 1655 
All sacrifice ! O Thou great Jove unfeign'd ! 
pivine Instructor ! Thy first volume this 
For man's perusal ; all in capitals ! 
In moon and stars (Heaven's golden alphabet !) 
Emblazed to seize the sight, who runs may rea.d ; 1C60 
Who reads can understand. Tis unconfined 
To Christian land or Jewry ; fairly writ. 
In language universal, to mankind ; 
A. language lofty to the learn'd, yet plain 
To those that feed the flock, or guide the plough, 1665 
Or from its husk, strike out the bounding grain : 
A language worthy the great Mind that speaks ! 
Preface and comment to the sacred p^ge ! 
Which oft refers its reader to the skies. 
As presupposing his first lesson there, 1670 

And Scripture 'self a fragment, that unread. 
Stupendous book of wisdom to the wise ! 
Stupendous book ! and open'd, Night ! by thee. 

By thee much open'd, I confess, O Night ! 
Yet more I wish ; but how shall I prevail ? 1075 

Say, gentle Night ! whose modest, maiden beams 
Oive us a new Creation, and present 
The world's great picture soften'd to the sight ; 
Nay, kinder far, far more indulgent still. 
Say, thou, whose mild dominion's silver key 1680 

Unlocks our hemisphere, and sets to view 



^54 TOT CQjS^SOLATION. !r. {i^. 

Worlds beyond number ; worlds conceal'd by day 
Behind the proud and envious star of noon ! 
Canst thou not draw a deeper scene, — and show 
The Mighty Potentate to whom belong 1C83 

These rich regalia, pompously display'd 
To kindle that high hope f Like him of XJz, 
I gaze around, I search on every side — 

for a glimpse of Him my soul adores ! 

As the chased hart, amid the desert waste, 1G90 

Pants for the living stream ; for Him who made her 

So pants the thirsty soul, amid the blank 

Of sublunary joys. Say, goddess ! where ? 

Where blazes his bright court ? where burns liis throne? 

Thou know'st, for thou art near Him ; by thee, round 

His grand pavilion, sacred Fame reports 109G 

The sable curtain drawn. If not, can none 

Of thy fair daughter-train, so swift of wing, 

Who travel far, discover v/here he dwells i 

A star his dwelling pointed out below. IT-OO 

Ye PleKadcs ! Arcturus ! Mazaroth ! 

And thou, Orion ! of still keener eye ! 

Say ye, who guide the wilder'd in the waves, 

And bring them out of tempest into port ! 

On which hand must I bend my course to find liini ? 

These courtiers keep the secret of their king ; 1700 

1 wake whole nights, in vain, to steal it from them 

I wake, and, waking, climb Night's radiant scale 
From sphere to sphere, the steps by Nature set 
For man's ascent, at once to tempt and aid ; 1710 

To tempt his eye, and aid his towering thought, 
Till it arrives at the great goal of all. 

In ardent Contemplation's rapid car^ 
From earth, as from my barrier, I set oul. 
How swift I mount ; diminish'd earth jecedes ; XTXi^ 
1 pass the moon ; and, from her farther side, 
Pierce Heaven's blue curtain ; strike into rertlftte J 
Where, with his lifted tube, the subtle sag^ 
His drtifioial airy journey takes>. 



THE C0N30LAT.I0J{, $5.5 

And to celestial lengthens human sight. 1720 

I pause at every planet on my road, 
And ask for Him who gives their orbs to roll, 
Their foreheads fair to shine. From Saturn's ring, 
In v^hich of earths an army might be lost, 
With the bold comet take my bolder flight, 172& 

Amid those sovereign glories of tho skies, 
Of independent, native lustre proud ; 
The souls of systems ! and the lords of life, 
Through their wide empires ! — What behold I now ? 
A wilderness of wonder burning round, 1730 

Where larger suns inhabit higher spheres ; 
Perhaps the villas of descending gods ; 
Nor halt I here ; my toil is but begun ; 
Tis but the threshold of the Deity ; 
Or, far beneath it, I am groveling still. 1735 

Nor is it strange ; I built on a mistake : 
The grandeur of his works, whence Folly sought 
For aid, to Reason sets His glory higher ; 
Who built thus high for worms (mere worms to Him) 
O where, Lorenzo, must the builder dwell ? 1740 

Pause then, and, for a moment, here respire — 
If human thought can keep its station here. 
Where am I ? — where is earth ? — nay, where art thou, 
O Sun ? — Is the Sun turn'd recluse .'' — and are 
His boasted expeditions short to mine ? — 1745 

To mine how short ! On Nature's Alps I stand, 
And see a thousand firmaments beneath ! 
A thousand systems ! as a thousand grains ! 
So much a stranger, and so late arrived, 
How can man's curious spirit not inquire 1750 

What are the natives of this world sublime. 
Of this so foreign, unterrestrial sphere. 
Where mortal, untranslated, never stray'd .'' 

' O ye, as distant from my little home 
As swiftest sunbeams in an age can fly ; 1735 

Far from my native element I roam, 
in fjuest of I18W and wondeifu]_to man. 



25&- THE CONSOLATION. it. vi. 

What province this, of his immense domain, 
"Whom all obe^'^s ? or mortals here, or gods ? 
Ye borderers on the coasts of bliss ! what are you .'' 
A colony from Heaven ? or only raised, 1761 

*By frequent visit from Heaven's neighbouring realms, 
To secondary gods, and half divine ? — 
Whate'er your nature, this is past dispute, 
Far other life you live, far other tongue 1765 

You talk, far other thought, perhaps, you think, 
Than man. How various are the v^orks of God ! 
Bat say, what tliought ? Is Reason here enthroned. 
And absolute ? or Sense in arms against her .'' 
Have you two lights .'' or need you no reveal'd ? 177d 
jEnjoy your happy realms their golden age ? 
And had your Eden an abstemious Eve f 
Our Eve's fair daughters prove their pedigree, 
And ask their Adams — < Who would not be wise .-*' 
Or, if your mother fell, are you redeem'd ? 1775: 

And, if redeem'd — is your Redeemer scorn'd .'* 
Is this your final residence ? if not, 
Change you your scene translated, or by death ? 
And if by deat^, what death ? — Know you disease .' 
Or horrid war ? — With war; this fatal hour, 1780; 

Europa groans (so call we a small field 
Where kings run mad.) In our world. Death deputes 
Intemperance to do the work of Age, 
And, hanging up the quiver^ Nature gave him, 
As slow of execution, for despatch 1765 

Sends forth imperial butchers ; bids them slay 
Their sheep (the silly sheep they fleeced before,) 
And toss him twice ten thousand at a meal. 
Sit all your executioners on" thrones .' s 

With you, can rage for plunder make a god ? 1790. 
And bloodshed wash out every other stain .'' — 
But you, perhaps, can't bleed : from matter gross 
Your spirits clean are delicately clad 
Xn fkiespun ether, privileged to soar, 
Unloaded, uninfected. How unlike > l:795f 



^He consolation. 5*7 

Ti?e lot of man \ liow few of human race 

By their own mud unmurder'd !' how we wage 

Self-war eternal 1 — Is your painful day 

Of hardy conflict o'er ? or are you still 

Raw candidates at school ? and have you those 1800 

Who disaifect reversions, as with us ? — 

But what are we ? you never heard of man, 

Or earth, the bedlam of the universe ! 

Where Reason (undiseased with you) runs mad. 

And nurses Folly's children as her own, 1805 

Fond of the foulest. In the sacred mount 

Of Holiness, where Reason is pronounced 

Infallible, and thunders like a god, 

E"en there, by saints the demons are outdone ; 

What these think wrong, our saints refine to right'; 

And kindly teach dull Hell her own black arts ; 1811 

Satan, instructed, o'er their morals smiles.-*- 

But this how strange to you, who know not man ! 

Has the least rumour of our race arrived .'* 

Call'd here Elijah in his flaming car .'' . 1815 

Pass'd by you the good Enoch, on his road 

To those fair fields whence Lucifer was hurl'd ; 

Who brush'd, perhaps, your sphere in his descent, 

Stain'd your pure crystal ether, or let fall 

A short eclipse from his portentous shade .•* 1820 

O that the fiend had lodge^ on some broad orb 

Athwart his way ; nor reach'd his present home, 

Then blacken'd earth, with footsteps foul'd in Hell, 

Nor wash'd in ocean, as from Rome he pass'd 

To Britain's isle ; too, too conspicuous there.' 1^5 

But this is all digression : where is He 
That o'er Heaven's battlements the felon hurl'd 
To groans, and chains, and darkness ? where is He 
Who sees Creation's summit in a vale .' 
He v/hom, wnile man is man, he can't but seek, 1830 
And if he finds, commences more than man .'' 
O for a telescope his throne to reach ! 
Tcfj iifte. ye learn'd on eartli !, or blesis'd aboVe,-:,, 



^58 THF CONSOLATION. .v js 

Ye search ing. 3''e Newtonian angels ! tell , 

"\Vhere your Great Master's orb ! his planets where ? 

Those conscious satellites, those morning stars, 1836' 

First-bom of Deity ! from central love, 

By veneration most profound, thrown ofFj 

By sweet attraction no less strongly drawn ; 

Awed, and yet raptured ; raptured, yet serene ; 1840 

Past thought illustrious, but with borrow'd beams ', 

In still approaching circles still remote, 

Revolving round the Sun's eternal Sire ? 

Or sent, in lines direct, on embassies 

To nations — in what latitude ? — beyond 1845 

Terrestrial thoughts horizon ! — and on what 

High errands sent ? — Here human effort ends, 

And leaves me still a stranger to liis throne. 

Full well it might ! I quite mistook my road ; 
Born in an age more curious than devout, . 1850 

More fond, to fix the place of heaven or hell, 
Than studious this to shun, or that secure. 
'Tis not the curious, but the pious, path 
That leajds me to my point. Lorenzo ! know, 
Without or star or angel for their guide, 1855 

Who worship God shall find him.. Humble Love, 
And not proud Reason, keeps the door of heaven ; 
Love finds admission Avhere proud Science fails. 
Man's science is the culture of his heart. 
And not to lose his plummet in the depths 1860 

Of Nature, or the more profound of God : 
Either to know, is an attempt that sets 
The wisest on a level with the fool. 
To fathom Nature (ill attempted here !) 
Past doubt, is deep philosophy aboVe ; 1865 

Higher degrees in bliss archangels take, 
As deeper learn'd, the deepest learning still. 
For what a thunder of Omnipotence 
(So might I dare to ppeak) is seen in all ! 
In man ! in earth ! in more amazing skies ! 1870 

!r^c]iing tljis lessoii Pride is loath to learn— 



THE c6nS0LATI0N. S59 

' Not deeply to discern, not much to know. 
Mankind was born to wonder and adore I' 

And is there cause for higher wonder still 
Than that which struck us from our past surveys ? — 
Yes ; and for deeper adoration too. 1876 

From my late airy travel unconfined, 
Have I learn'd nothing ? — Yes, Lorenzo ! this : 
Each of these stars is a relioious house ; 
I saw their altars smoke, their incense rise, 1880 

And heard hosaunas ring through every sphere, 
..A seminary fraught with future gods. 
Nature all o'er is consecrated ground, 
Teeming with growths immortal and divine. 
The great Proprietor's all bounteous hand ' 1885 

Leaves nothing waste, but sows these fiery fields 
"With seeds of Reason, which to virtues rise 
Beneath his genial ray ; and, if escaped 
The pestilential blasts of stubborn will, 
When grown mature, are gather'd for the skies. 1B90 
And is devotion thought too much on earth, 
When beings, so superior, homage boast, 
And triumph in prostrations to the throne ? 

But wherefore ^lore of planets or of stars ? 
Ethereal journeys, and, discover'd there, 1895 

Ten thousand worlds, ten thousand ways devout. 
All Nature sending incense to the throne. 
Except the bold Lorenzos of our sphere ! 
Opening the solemn sources of my soul, 
Since I haVe pour'd, like feign'd Eridanus, 1900 

My flowing numbers o'er the flaming skies. 
Nor see of fancy or of fact what more 
Invites the Muse — here turn we, and review 
Our pass'd noctur»al landscape wide ; then say, 
Say, then, Lorenzo ! with what burst of heart, 1905 
The whole, at once, revolving in his thought, 
Must man exclaim, adoring and aghast .'' 
* O what a root ! O what a branch, is here 1 
O what a Father ! what a family ! 



;>60 THE C0NSOLATiO5r. w. 1x5 

Worlds! systems! and creations! — and creations, 1910 

In one agglomerated cluster, hung, 

Great Vine !* on thee ; on thee the cluster hangs, 

The filial cluster ! infinitely spread 

In glowing globes, with various being fraught, 

And drinks (nectareous draught !) immortal life. 1315 

Or, shall I say (for who can say enough ?) 

A constellation often thousand gems, 

(And, O ! of what dimension ! of what weight !) 

Set in one signet, flames on the righ*. hand 

Of Majesty divine ! The blazing seal, 1920 

That deeply stamps, on all created mind, 

Indelible, his sovereign attributes, 

Omnipotence and Love ! that passing bound. 

And this surpassing that. Nor stop we here 

For want of power in God, but thought in man. 192a 

E'en this acknowledged, leaves us still in debt; 

If greater aught, that greater all is thine. 

Dread Sire ! — Accept, this miniature of Thee, 

And pardon an attempt from mortal thought, 

In which archangels might have fail'd, unblamed.' 

How such ideas of the' Almighty's power, 1931 

And such ideas of the' Almighty's plan, 
(Ideas not absurd) distend the thought 
Of feeble mortals ! nor of them alone ! 
The fulness of the Deity breaks forth 1935 

In inconceivables, to men and gods. 
Think, then, O think, nor ever drop the thought 
How low must man descend when gods adore ! 
Have I not, then, accomplish'd my proud boast .' 
Did I not tell thee ' We would mount, Lorenzo ! 394U 
And kindle our devotion at the stars ?' 

And have I fail'd ? and did I flatter thee ? 
And art all adamant .'' and dost confute, 
All urged, with one irrefragable smile ? 
liorenzo ! mirth how miserable hers ! 1945 

Swear by the stars, by Him who made them, swear, 
* John XV. 1. 



THE-COxXSOLATION. 201 

Thy heart, henceforth, shall be as pure as they ; 
Then thou, like them, shalt shine : like them, shalt rise 
From low to lofty, from obscure to bright, 
By due gradation. Nature's sacred law. 1950 

The stars from whence ? — ask Chaos — he can tell. 
Those bright temptations to idolatry 
From darkness and confusion took their birth ; 
Sons of deformity ! from fluid dregs 
Tartarean, first they rose to masses rude, 1955 

And then to spheres opaque ; then dimly shone, 
Then brighten'd ; then blazed out in perfect day. 
Nature delights in progress, in advance 
From worse to better ; but when minds ascend, 
Progress, in part, depends upon theniselves. 19C0 

Heaven aids exertion : greater makes the great ; 
The voluntary little lessens more. 
O be a man ! and thou shalt be a god ! 
And hal.f self-made ! — ambition how divine ! 

O thou, ambitious of disgrace alone ! 1965 

Still undevout ^ unkindled i — though high taught, 
School'd by the skies, and pupil of the stars. 
Rank coward to the fashionable vi^orld ! 
Art thou ashamed to bend Ihy knee to Heaven .'* 
Cursed fui-ie of pride, exhaled from deepest hell ! 
Pride in religion is man's highest praise. 1971 

Bent on destruction ! and in love with death I 
Not all these luminaries, quench'd at once, 
"Were half so sad as one benighted mind. 
Which gropes for happiness, and meets despair. 1975 
How like a widow in her weeds, the Night, 
Amid her glimmering tapers, silent sits i 
How sorrowful, how desolate, she weeps 
Perpetual dews, and saddens Nature's scene ! 
A scene more sad Sin makes the darken'd soul,. 1980 
All comfort kills, nor leaves one spark alive. 

Though blind of heart, still open is thine eye. 
Why such magnificence in all thou seest .'' 
Of matter's grar;.deur, know one end is this,, 



262 THaI COiSSOLATlOiNf, k. k. 

To tell the rational, who gazes on it, — 1985 

' Though that immensely great, still greater he 

"Whose breast capricious, can embrace and lodge, 

Unburden'd, Nature's universal scheme ; 

Can grasp Creation with a single thought ; 

Creation grasp, and not exclude its Sire,' — ■ 1990 

To tell him farther — * It behoves him much 

To guard the' important, yet depending fate 

Of being brighter than a thousand suns ; 

One single ray of thought outshines them all.' — 

And if man hears obedient, soon he'll soar 1995 

Superior heights, and on his purple wing, 

His purple wing bedropp'd with eyes of gold, 

llising, where thought is now denied to rise, 

Look down triumphant on these dazzling spheres. 

Why then persist ? — no mortal ever lived 20GO 

But, dying, he pronounced (when words are true) 
The whole that charms thee absolutely vain ; 
Vain, and far worse ! — Think thou with dying men ; 
O condescend to think as angels think ! 
O tolerate a chance for happiness ! 2005 

Our nature such, ill choice insures ill fate ; 
And liell had been, though there had been no God, 
Dost thou not know, my new Astronomer ! 
Earth, turning from th« Sun, brings night to man ? 
Man, turning from his God, brings endless night ; 
Where thou canst read no morals, find no friend, 2011 
Amend no manners, and expect no peace. 
How deep the darkness ! and the groan how loud ! 
And far, how far, from lambent are the flamffs ! — 
Such is Lorenzo's purchase ! such his praise I 2015 
The proud, the politic Lorenzo's praise ; 
Though in his ear, and level'd at his heart, 
I've half read o'er the volume of the skies. 

For think not thou hast heard all this from me ; 
My song but echoes what great Nature speaks. 2020 
"What has she spoken ? — Thus the goddess spoke, 
Thus speaks fQj ever ;— ^ Plaxje, at Nature "g head, 



THE CONSOLATION. 263 

A Sovereign which o'er all things rolls his eye, 
Extends his wing, promulgates his commands, 
But, above all, diffuses endless good ; 2023 

To whom, for sure redress, the wrong'd may fly, 
The vile for mercy, and the paind for peace ; 
By whom the various tenants of these spheres, 
Diversified in fortunes, place, and powers, 
Raised in enjoyment, as in worth they rise, 20S0 

Arrive at length (if worthy such approach) 
At that bless'd fountain-head from which they stream^i 
Where conflict past redoubles present joy. 
And present joy looks forward on increase, 
And that on more ; no period ! every step 2035 

A double boon ! a promise and a bliss,' 
How easy sits this scheme on human hearts ! 
It suits their make, it sooths their vast desires ; 
Passion is pleased, and Reason asks no more : 
'Tis rational ; 'tis great ! — but what is thine ? 2040 
It darkens ! shocks ! excruciates ! and confounds ! 
Leaves us quite naked, both of help and hope, , 
Sinking from bad to worse ; few years the sport 
Of Fortune, then the morsel of despair. 

Say, then, Lorenzo ! (for thou know 'st it well) 2043 
What's vice .'' mere want of compass in our thought. 
Religion what ? — the proof of common sense. 
How art thou hooted where the least prevails ! 
Is it my fault if these truths call thee fool ? 
Ana thou shalt never be miscalld by me. 2050 

Can neither Shame nor Terror stand thy frieiid ? 
And art thou still an insect in the mire ? 
How like thy guardian angel have I flown ; 
Snatch'd thee from earth, escorted thee through all 
The' ethereal armies ; walk'd thee, like a god, 2055 
Through splendours of first magnitude, arranged 
On either hand ; clouds thrown beneath thy feet ; 
Close-cruised on the bright paradise of God, 
And almost introduced thee to the throne ! 
^rtdi an tto still earottsing; tQr d.e>.ight-^ ^^ 



t2Si THE COiS'SOLATION. n. m. 

Rank poison, first fermenting to mere froth, 

And then subsiding into final gal! ? 

To beings of sublime, immortal make, 

How shocking is all joy whose end is sure 1, 

Such joy more shocking still, the more it charms ! 

And dost thou choose what ends ere well begun, 20GG 

And infamous as short ? and dost thou choose 

(Thou, to whose palate glory is so sweet) 

To wade into perdition through contempt, 

Not of poor bigots only, but thy own ? 2070 

For I have peep'd into thy covcr'd heart, 

And seen it blush beneath a boastful brow ? 

For by strong Guilt's most violent assault, 

Conscience is but disabled, not destroy'd. 

O thou most awful being ! and most vain ! 2075 
Thy will how frail ! how glorious is thy power ? 
Though dread Eternity has sown her seeds 
Of bliss and woe in thy despotic breast ; 
Though heaven and hell depend upon thy choice, 
A butterfly comes cross, and both are fled. 2080 

Is this the picture of a rational ? 
This horrid image, shall it be more just ? 
Lorenzo ! no ; it cannot, — shall not be. 
If there is force in reason ; or in sounds 
Chanted beneath the glimpses of the moon, 2085 

A magic, at this planetary hour, 
"When Slumber locks the general lip, and dreanfs, 
Through senseless mazes, hunts souls uninspired. 

Attend — tlie sacred mysteries begin 

My solemn night-born adjuration hear : 2090 

Hear, and Til raise thy spirit from the dust. 
While the stars gaze on this enchantment new ; 
Enchantment not infernal, but divine ! 

* By Silence, Death's peculiar attribute 3 
By Darkness, Guilt's inevitable doom ; 2095 

By Darkness and by Silence, sisters dread ! 
That draw the curtain round Night's ebon throne, 
And rais"* ideas solemn as the scenp I 



THE CONSOLATION. 2C5 

By Night, and all of awful Night presents 
To thought or sense (of awful much, to both 2100 
The goddess brings !) By these her trembling fires. 
Like Vesta's, ever-burning, and, like hers, 
Sacred to thoughts immaculate and pure ! 
By these bright orators that prove and praise, 
And press thee to revere the Deity ; 2105 

Perhaps, too, aid thee, when revered, a while 
To reach his throne, as stages of the soul, 
Through which, at different periods, she shall pass, 
Refining gradual, for her final height, 
And purging off some dross at every sphere f 2110 
By this dark pall thrown o'er the silent world ! 
By the world's kings and kingdoms most renown'dj 
From short Ambition's zenith set for ever, 
Sad presage to vain boasters, now in bloom ! 
By the long list of swift mortality, 2115 

From Adam downward to this evening knell, 
Which midnight waves in Fancy's startled tjye, 
And shocks her with a hundred centuries, 
Round Death's blackbannerthrong'd in human thought 
By thousands, now, resigning their last breath, 2120 
And calling thee — wort thou so wise to hear ! 
By tombs o'er tombs arising, human earth 
Ejected, to make room for — human earth, 
The monarch's terror ! and the sexton's trade I 
By pompous obsequies that shun the day, 2125 

The torch funereal, and the nodding plume, 
Which makes poor man's humiliation proud, 
Boast of our ruin ! triumph of our dust ! 
By the damp vault that weeps o'er royal bones, 
And the pale lamp that shows the ghastly dead, 2130 
More ghastly through the thick incumbent gloom ! 
By visits (if there are) from darker scenes, 
The gliding spectre ! and the groaning grove I 
By groans, and graves, and miseries that groan 
For the grave's shelter ! By desponding men, 2135 
Senseless to pains of death from pangs of guilt i 
23 



266 THE CONSOLATION. n. ix- 

By Guilt's last audit ! B}'- yon moon in blood, 

The rocking firmament, the falling stars, 

And thunder's last discharge, great Nature's knell ! 

By second Chaos, and eternal Night, — 2140 

Be wise— nor let Philander blame my charin j 

But own not ill discharged my double debt, 

Love to the living, duty to the dead. 

For know I'm but executor ; he left 
This moral legacy ; I make it o'er 2145 

By his command : Philander hear in me, 
And Heaven in both. — If deaf to^hese, oh ! hear 
Florello's tender voice ; his weal depends 
On thy resolve ; it trembles at thy choice ; 
For his sake — love thyself: example strikes 2150 

All human hearts ; a bad example more ; 
More still a father's ; that insures his ruin. 
As parent of his being, wouldst thou prove 
The' unnatural parent of his miseries, 
And make him curse the being which thou gavest .'' 
Is this the blessing of so fond a father .'' 2156 

If careless of Lorenzo, spare, oh ! spare 
Florello's father, and Philander's friend ! 
Florello's father ruin'd, ruins him ; 
And from Philander's friend the world expects 21C0 
A conduct no dishonour to the dead. 
Let passion do what nobler motive should ; 
Let love and emulation rise in aid 
To reason, and persuade thee to be — bless'd. 

This seems not a request to be denied ; 21G5 

Yet (such the' infatuation of mankind I) 
'Tis the most hopeless man can make to man. 
Shall I then rise in argument and warmth .'' 
And urge Philander's posthumous advice, 

P^rom topics yet unbroach'd .-* 2170 

But, oh ! I faint ! my spirits fail ! nor strange ! 
3o long on wing, and in no middle clime i 
To which my great Creator's glory call'd ; 
And Qalls— bll^, no'vV; in v^ln. Sleep's dewy waud 



THE CONSOLATION. 267 

Has stroked my drooping lids, and promises 2175 

My long arrear of rest : the downy god 

(Wont to return with our returning peace) 

Will pay, ere long, and bless me with repose. 

Haste, haste, sweet stranger ! from the peasant's cot, 

The shipboy's hammock, or the soldier's straw, 2180 

Whence Sorrow never chased thee ; with thee bring 

Not hideous visions, as of late, but draughts 

Delicious of well tasted cordial rest. 

Mans rich restorative ; his balmy bath, 

That supples, lubricates, and keeps in play 2185 

The various movements of this nice machine, 

Which asks such frequent periods of repair. 

When tired with vain rotations of the day, 

Sleep winds us up for the succeeding dav^^n ; 

Fresh we spin on, till sickness clogs our wheels, 2190 

Or death quite breaks the spring, and motion ends : - 

When will it end with me .' 

' Thou only know'st, 

Thou, whose broad eye the future and the past 
Joins to the present, making one of three 2194 

To mortal thought ! Thou know'st, and Thou alone, 
All knowing ! — all unknown ! — and yet well known ! 
Near, though remote ! and, though unfathom'd, felt ! 
And, though invisible, for ever seen ! 
And seen in all ! the great and the minute ; 
Each globe above, with its gigantic race, 2200 

Each flower, each leUf, with its small people swarm'd, 
(Those puny vouchers of Omnipotence !) 
To the first thought that asks • From whence ?' declare 
Their common source : thou fountain, running o'er 
In rivers of communicated joy ! 2205 

^ Who gavest us speech for far, far humbler themes 1 
Say by what name shall I presume to call 
ilira I see burning in these countless suns, 
As Moses in the bush ? Illustrious Mind 1 
The whole creation less, far less, to Theo, 2210 

Than that to the creation's ample round, 



^68 THE CONSOLATION. n. ix. 

How shall I name Thee ? — How my labouring soul 
Heaves underneath the thought, too big for birth ! 

' Great System of perfections ! mighty Cause 
Of causes mighty ! Cause uncaused ! sole root 2215 
Of Nature, that luxuriant growth of God ! 
First Father of effects ! that progeny 
Of endless series ; where the golden chain's 
Last link admits a period, who can tell ? 
Father of all that is or heard or hears ! 2220 

Father of all that is or seen or sees ! 
Father of all that is or shall arise ! 
Father of this immeasurable mass 
Of matter multiform, or dense or rare, 
Opaque or lucid, rapid or at rest, ^25 

Minute or passing bound ! in each extreme 
Of like amaze and mj'stery to man. 
Father of these bright millions of the night ! 
Of which the least, full Godhead had proclaim'd. 
And thrown the gazer on his knee — Or, say, 2230 
Is appellation higher still thy choice ? 
Father of matter's temporary lords ! 
Father of spirits ! nobler offspring ! sparks 
Of high paternal glory, rich endow'd 
With various measures, and with various modes 2235 
Of instinct, reason, intuition ; beams 
More pale or bright from day divine, to break 
The dark of matter organized (the ware 
Of all created spirit) beams that rise 
Each over other in superior light, 2240 

Till the last ripens into lustre strong, 
Of next approach to Godhead. Father fond 
(Far fonder than ere bore that name on earth) 
Of intellectual beings ! beings bless'd 
With powers to please thee, not of passive ply 2245 
To laws they know not ; beirigs lodged in seats 
Of well adapted joys, in different domes 
Of this imperial palace for thy sons ; 
Of this proud, populous, well policiedj 



THE CONSOLATION. 269 

Though boundless habitation, plaun'd by Thee )_ 2250 
Whose several clans their several climates suit, 
And transposition, doubtless, would destroy. 
Or, oh ! indulge, iunnortal King ! indulge 
A title less august, indeed, but more • 

Endearing ; ah ! how sweet in human ears ! 2255 

Sweet in our ears, and triunmh ixi our hearts 1 
Father of immortality to man I 
A theme that lately* set my soul on fire — 
And Thou the next ! yet equal ! thou by wliom 
That blessing was convey'd, far more ! was bought, 
Ineffable the price ! by whom all worlds ^261 

Were made, and one redeem'd ! illustrious Light 
From Light illustrious ! thou, whose regal power 
Finite in time, but infinite in space, 
On more than adamantine basis fix'd, 2265 

O'er more, far more, than diadems and thrones 
Inviolably reigns, the dread of gods ! 
And, oh ! the friend of man 1 beneath whose foot, 
And by the mandate of whose awful nod, 
All regions, revolutions, fortunes, fates, 2270 

Of high, of low, of mind, and matter, roll 
Through the short channels of expiring time, 
■'Or shoreless ocean of eternit}'', 
Calm or tempestuous (as thy Spirit breathes) 
in absolute subjection ! — And, O Thou ! 2275 

The. glorious Third ! distinct, not separate ! 
Beaming from both! with both incorporate, 
And (strange to tell !) incorporate with dust ! 
By condescension, as thy glory, great, ' 

Enshrined in man ! of human hearts, if pure, 2280 
Divine Inhabitant ! the tie divine 
<")f heaven with distant earth ! by whom, I trust, 
(If not inspired) uncensured this address 
To Thee, to Them — to whom ? — mysterious power \ 
Rovcal'd — yet unreveald'd I darkness in light i 52S5 
Number in unity I our joy ! our dread ! 

^ Sec Nig-lits ilie Sixtii and Seventh. 
23* 



270 THE CONSOLATION. n. is. 

The triple bolt that lays all wrong in ruin ! 

That animates all right, the triple Sun ! 

Sun of the soul ! her never setting Sun ! 

Triune, unutterable, unconceived, 2290 

Absconding, yet demonstrable, Great God ! 

Greater than greatest ! better than the best ! 

Kinder than kindest ! with soft Pity's eye, 

Or (stronger still to speak it) with thine own, 

From thy bright home, from that high firmament 2295 

Where thou, from all eternity, hast dwelt; 

Beyond archangels' unassisted ken. 

From far above what mortals highest call. 

From Elevation's pinnacle, look down. 

Through — what ? confounding interval ! through all, 

And more, than labouring Fancy can conceive ; 2301 

Through radiant ranks of essences unknown .'' 

Through hierarchies from hierarchies detach'd 

Round various banners of Omnipotence, 

With endless change of rapturous duties fired ; 2305, 

Through wondrous beings" interposing swarms, 

All clustering at the call, to dwell in thee ; 

Through this wide waste of worlds ! this vista vast, 

All sanded o"er with suns, suns turn'd to night 

Before thy feeblest beam — look dov/n — down — down,^ 

On a poor breathing particle in dust, 23.H 

Or, lower, an immortal in his crimes : 

His crimes forgive ! forgive his virtues too ! 

Those smaller faults, half converts to the right : 

Nor let me close these eyes, which never more 2315 

May see the Sun (though Night's descending scale 

Now weighs up Morn) unpitied and unbless'd ! 

In thy displeasure dwells eternal pain ; 

Pain, our aversion ; pain, which strikes me now ; 

And, since all pain is terrible to man, 2320 

Though transient, terrible ; at thy good hour, 

Gently, ah, gently, lay me in my bed, 

My clay-cold bed ! by nature, now, so near ; 

By nature near, still nearer by disease ! 



THE CONSOLATlOxX. ^71 

Till then be this an emblem of my grave ; 2325 

Let it outpreach the preacher ; every night 

Let it outcry the boy at Philip's ear, 

That tongue of death ! that herald of the tomb . 

And when (the shelter of thy wing implored) 

My senses, sooth'd, shall sink in soft repose, 2330 

O sink this truth still deeper in my soul, 

Suggested by my pillow, sign'd by Fate, 

First in Fate's volume, at the page of Man — 

f' Man's sickly soul, though turn'd and toss'd for ever 

From side to &.de, can rest on nought but Thee ; 2335 

Here in full trust, hereafter in full joy :" 

On Thee, the promised, sure, eternal down 

Of spirits, toil'd in travel through this vale : 

Nor of that pillow shall my soul despond ; 

For — Love almighty ! Love almighty ! (sing, 2340 

Exult, Creation !) Love almighty reigns ! 

The death of death ! that cordial of despair ! 

And loud Eternity's triumphant song ! 

' Of whom no more : — for, O thou Patron God ! 
Thou God and mortal ! thence more God to man ! 
Man's theme eternal ! man's eternal theme ! 2346 

Thou canst not scape uninjured from our praise : 
Uninjured from our praise can he escape 
Who, disembosom'd from the Father, bows 
The heaven of heavens to kiss the distant earth ! 2350 
Breathes out in agonies a sinless soul i 
Against the cross Death's iron soeptre breaks ! 
From famish'd Ruin plucks her human prey ! 
Throv/s wide the gates celestial to his foes ! 
Their gratitude, for such a boundless debt, 2355 

Deputes their suffering brothers to receive ! 
And if deep human guilt in payment fails, 
As deeper guilt, prohibits our despair ! 
Enjoins it, as our duty, to rejoice ! 
And (to close all) omnipotently kind, 23G0 

Takes his delights among the sons of men.'- 
* Prov. chap. viii. 



S:2 TIlE CONSOLATION. %. ix. 

What words are these — and did the}'- come from 
Heaven ? 
And were they spoke to man ? to guilty man ? 
What are all mysteries to love like this ? 
The songs of angels, all the melodies 2365 

Of choral gods, are wafted in the sound ; 
Heal and exhilarate the broken heart, ' 
Though plunged, before, in horrors daik as night : 
Rich prelibation of consummate joy ! 
Nor wait we dissolution to be bless'd. 2370 

This final effort of the moral Muse, 
How justly titled !* nor for me alone ; 
For all that read. What spirit of support, 
What heiglits of Consolation crown my song '. 

Then farewell Night ! of darkness, now. no moro ; 
Joy breaks, shines, triumphs ; 'tis eternal day ! 237G 
Shall that which rises out of nought complain 
Of a few evils, paid with endless joys r 
My soul ! henceforth, in sweetest union join 
The two supports of human happiness, 2380 

Which some, erroneous, think can never meet, 
True taste of life, and constant thought of death ! 
The tliought of death, sole victor of its dread ! 
Hope be thy joy, and probity thy skill ; 
Thy patron He whose diadem has dropp'd 23S5 

Yon gems of heaven, eternity thy prize ; 
And leaves the racers of the world their ov.-n, 
Their feather and their froth, for endless toils : 
They part with all, for that which is not bread ,• 
They mortify, they starve, on wealth, fame, power, 
And laugh to scorn the fools that aim at more. 2301 
How must a spirit, late escaped from earth, 
Suppose Philander's, Lucia's, or Narcissa's, 
The truth of things new-blazing in its eye, 
Look back, astonish'd on the ways of men, 2395 

Whose lives' whole drift is to forget their graves 1 
And when our present privilege is pass'd. - 
'■ The Consolation. 



THE CONSOLATION. 2T3 

To scourge us with due sense of its abuse, 

The same astonishment will seize us all. 

What then must pain us would preserve us now. 2400 

Lorenzo ! 'tis not yet too late. Lorenzo ! 

Seize wisdom, ere 'tis torment to be wise ; 

That is, seize Wisdom ere she seizes thee. 

For what, my small philosopher 1 is hell .'' 

'Tis nothing but full knowledge of the truth, 2405 

When Truth, resisted long, is sworn our foe, 

And calls Eternity to do her right. 

Thus darkness aiding intellectual light. 
And sacred Silence whispering truths divine, 
And truths divine converting pain to peace, 2410 

My song the midnight raven has outwing'd. 
And shot, ambitious of unbounded scenes, 
Beyond the flaming limits of the world 
Her gloomy flight. But what avails the flight 
Of Fancy, when our hearts remain below ? 2415 

Virtue abounds in flatterers and foes ; 
'Tis pride to praise her, penance to perform. 
To more than words, to more than worth of tongue, 
Lorenzo ! rise, at this auspicious hour. 
An hour when Heaven's most intimate with man ; 
When, like a falling star, the ray divine 2421 

Glides swift into the bosom of the just ; 
And just are all, determined to reclaim ; 
Which sets that title high within thy reach. 
Awake, then ; thy Philander calls : awake ! 2425 

Thou, who shalt wake when the Creation sleeps ; 
When, like a taper, all these suns expire ; 
When Time, like him of Gaza in his wrath. 
Plucking the pillars that support the world, 
In Nature's ample ruins lies entomb'd, 2430 

And midnight, universal midnight ! reigns. 



HE FORCE OF RELIGION. 



BOOK I. 



From lofty themes, from thoughts that soar'd on high, 
And open'd wondrous scenes above the sky, 
My Muse ! descend : indulge my fond desire ; 
With softer thoughts my melting soul inspire, 
And smooth my numbers to a female's praise : 5 

A partial world will listen to my lays 
While Anna reigns, and sets a female name 
Unrival'd in the glorious lists of fame. 

Hear, ye fair daughters of this happy land ! 
WHiose radiant eyes the vanquish'd world command, 
Virtue is beauty ; but when charms of mind 11 

With elegance of outward form are join'd ; 
When youth makes such bright objects still more bright 
And Fortune sets tlrem in the strongest light, 
'Tis all of heaven that we below may view, J5 

And all but adoration is your due. 

Famed female virtue did this isle adorn 
Ere Ormond, or her glorious Queen was born : 
When now Maria's powerful arms prevail'd, 
And haughty Dudley's bold ambition fafl'd, 20 

The beauteous daughter of great Suffolk's race, 
[n blooming youth, adorn'd with every grace, 
Who gain'd a crown by treason not her own, 
And innocently fiU'd another's throne, 
Hurl'd from the summit of imperial state, . 25 

With equal mind sustaiu'd the stroke of Fate. 

But how will Guilford, her far dearer part, 
With manly reason fortify his heart ? 
At once she longs, and is afraid to know ; 
Now swift she moves, and now advances slow, 30 

To find her lord ; and, finding, passes by, 
Silent with fear, nor dares she meet his eye, 



THE FORCE OF RELIGION. 275 

Lest that, unask'd, ia speechless grief disclose 
The mournful secret of his inward woes : 
Thus after sickness, doubtful of her face, 3a 

The melancholy virgin shuns the glass. 

At length, with trob^bled thought, but look serene, 
And sorrow soften'd by her heavenly mien. 
She clasps her lord, brave, beautiful, and young, 
While tender accents melt upon her tongue ; 40 

Gentle and sweet, as vernal zephyr blows, 
Fanning the lily, or the blooming rose : 

' Grieve not, ray lord ; a crown, indeed, is lost ; 
What far outshines a crown we still may boast j 
A mind composed, a mind that can disdain 45 

A fruitless sorrow for a loss so vain. 
Nothing is loss that virtue can improve 
To Wealth eternal, and return above ; 
Above, where no distinction shall be known 
'Twixt him whom storms have shaken from a throne, 
And him v/ho, basking in the smiles of Fate, 51 

Shone forth in all the splendour of the great : 
Nor can I find the difference here below ; 
I latefly was a queen ; I still am so, 
W^hile Guilford's wife : thee rather I obey, 5o 

Than o'er mankind extend imperial sway. 
When we lie down in some obscure retreat, 
Incensed Marija, may her rage forget ; 
And I to death my duty will improve. 
And what you miss in empire, add in love — 60 

Your godlike soul is open'd in your look, 
And I have faintly your great meaning spoke. 
For this alone I'm pleased I wore the crown. 
To find with what content we lay it down. 
Heroes may win, but 'tis a heavenly race 65 

Can quit a throne with a becoming grace.' 

Thus spoke the fairest of her sex, and cheer'd 
Her drooping lord, whose boding bosom fear'd 
A darker cloud of ills would burst, and shed 
Severer ven^ance on her guiltless head, 70 



S7G THE FORCE OF RELIGION b. i. 

Too just, alas I the terrors which he felt : 

For, lo ! a guard ! — forgive him if he melt — 

How sharp her pangs, when sever'd from his side, 

The most sincerely loved and loving bride 

In space confined, the Muse forbears to tell ; 75 

Deep was her anguish, but she bo'-e it well : 

His pain was equal, but his virtue less ; 

He thought in grief there could be no excess. 

Pensive he sat, o'er cast with gloomy care, 

And often fondly clasp'd his absent fair ; 80 

Now, silent, wander'd through his rooms of state. 

And sicken'd at the pomp, and tax'd his fate, 

Which thus adorned, in all her shining store, 

A splendid wretch, magnificently poor. 

Now on the bridal bed his eyes were cast, 85 

And anguish fed on his enjoyments past ; 

Each recollected pleasure made him smart, 

And every transport stabb'd him to the heart. 

That happy moon which summon'd to delight, 
That moon which shone on his dear nuptial night, 90 
Which saw him fold her yet untasted charms 
(Denied to princes) in his longing arms, 
Now sees the transient blessing fleet away, 
Empire and love ! the vision of a day. 

Thus, in the British clime, a summer storm 91' 

Will oft the smiling face of heaven deform ; 
The winds with violence at once descend, 
Sweep flowers and fruits, and make the forest bend ; 
A sudden winter, while the Sun is near, 
O'ercomes the season, and inverts the year. 100 

But whither is the captive borne away. 
The beauteous captive ! from the cheerful day ? 
The scene is changed indeed ; before her eyes 
111 boding looks and unknown horrors rise : 
For pomp and splendour, for her guard and crown, 105 
A gloomy dungeon, and a keeper's frown : , 
Black thoughts eacli morn invade the lover's breast : 
Each night a ruffian locks a queen to rest. 



THE FORCE OF RELIGION 277 

Ah, mournful change, if judged by vulgar minds ! 
But Suffolk's daughter its advantage finds. 110 

Religion's force divine is best display 'd 
In deep desertion of all human aid ; 
To succour in extremes is her delight, 
And cheer the heart when terror strikes the sight. 
We, disbelieving our ov/n senses, gaze, 115 

And wonder what a mortal's heart can raise 
To triumph o'er misfortunes, smile in grief, 
And comfort those who come to bring relief. 
We gaze, and as we gaze, wealth, fame decay, 
And all the world's vain glories fade away. 120 

Against her cares she raised a dauntless mind, 
And with an ardent heart, but most resign'd, 
Deep in the dreadful gloom, with pi»us heat, 
Amid the silence of her dark retreat, 
Address'd her God — ' Almighty Power Divine ! 125 
'Tis thine to raise, and to depress is thine ; 
With honour to light up the name vmknown, 
Or to put out the lustre of a throne. 
In my short span both fortunes I have proved, 
And though with ill frail nature will be moved, 130 
I'll bear it well • (O strengthen me to bear !) 
And if my piety may claim thy care. 
If I remember'd, in youth's giddy heat, 
And tumult of a court, a future state ; 
O favour, when thy mercy I implore, 135 

For one who never guilty sceptre bore ! 
'Twas I received the crown ; my lord is free ; 
If it must fall, let vengeance fall on me : 
Let him survive, his country's name to raise, 
And in a guilty land to speak thy praise ! 140 

O may the' indulgence of a father's love, 
Pour'd forth on me, be doubled from above ! 
If these are safe, I'll think my prayers succeed., 
And bless thy tender mercies whilst I bleed.' 

'Twas now the mournful eve before that day 145 
In which the queen to her full wrath gave way 
24 



678 THE FORCE OF RELIGION. b i. 

Though rigid justice rush'd into offence, 

And drank, in zeal, the blood of Innocence. 

The Sun went down in clouds, and seem'd to mourn 

The sad necessity of his return ; 150 

The hollow wind and melancholy rain, 

Or did, or was imagined to complain ; 

The tapers cast an inauspicious light ; 

Stars there were none., and doubly dark the night. 

Sweet Innocence in chains can take her rest ; 155 
Soft slumber gently creeping through her breast, 
She sinks ; and in her sleep is reenthroned, w J 

Mockd by a gaudy dream, and vainly crown'd. "^ ^ 
She views her fleets and armies, seas and land, 
And stretches wide her shadow of command : IGD 

With royal purple is her vision hung ; 
By phantom hosts are shouts of conquest rung , 
Low at her feet the suppliant rival lies : 
Our prisoner mourns her fate, and bids her rise. 
' Now level beams upon the waters play'd, 165 

Glanced on the hills, and westward cast the shade ; 
The busy trades in city had began 
To Bound and speak the painful life of man. 
In tyrants' breasts the thoughts of vengeance rouse, 
And the fond bridegroom turns him to his spouse. 170 
At this first birth of light, while morning breaks, 
Our spouseless bride, or widow'd wife, awakes ; 
Awakes, and smiles ; nor night's imposture blames ; 
iler real pomps were little more than dreams ; 
A short-lived blaze, a lightning quickly o'er, 175 

That died in birth, that shone, and were no more : 
She turns her side, and soon resumes a state 
Of mind well suited to her alter'd fate, 
Serene, though serious, when dread tidings come 
(Ah, wretched Guilford !) of her instant doom. 180 
Sun ! hide thy beams ; in clouds as black as night 
Thy face involve ; be guiltless of the sight ; 
Or haste more swiftly to the western main. 
Nor let her blaod the CQiiscious day-light stain ', 



THE FORCE OF RELIGION. 27D 

'Oh '. how severe ! to fall so new a bride, 185 

Yet blushing from thi priest, in youthful pride ; 
"When Time had just matured each perfect grace, 
And open'd all the wonders of her face I 
To leave her Guilford dead to all relief, 
Fond of his woe and obstinate in grief. 190 

Unhappy Fair ! whatever Fancy drew, 
(Vain promised blessings) vanish from her view ; 
No train of cheerful days, endearing nights, 
No sweet domestic joys, and chaste delights ; 
Pleasures that blossom e'en from doubts and fears, 
And bliss and rapture rising out of cares : 19G 

No little Guilford, with paternal grace, 
Lull'd on her knee, or smiling in her face ; 
Who, when her dearest father shall return 
From pouring tears on her untimely urn, 200 

Might comfort to his silver hairs impart, 
And fill her place in his indulgent heart : 
As where fruits fall quick-rising blossoms smile, 
And the blest Indian of his cares beguile. 

In vain these various reasons jointly press 205 

To blacken death, and heighten her distress y 
She through the' encircling terrors darts her sight 
To the bless'd regions of eternal light, 
And fills her soul with peace : to weeping friends 
Her father and her lord she recommends, 210 

Unmov'd herself: her foes her air survey, 
And rage to see their malice thrown away. 
She soars ; now nought on earth detains her care — 
But Guilford, who still struggles for his share. 
Still will his form importunately rise, 215 

Clog and retard her transport to the skies. 
As trembling flames now take a feeble flight, 
Now catch the brand with a returning light, 
Thus her soul onward, from the seats above 
Falls fondly back,, and kindles into love. 220 

At length she conquers in the doubtful field ; 
That Heaven she seeks will be her Guilford's shield. 



aSO THE FORCE Ox^ RELIGION. b. i. 

Now Death is welcome ; his approach is slow ; 
'Tis tedious longer to expect tho blow. 

Oh, mortals ! short of sight, who think the past 225 
O'crblown misfortune still shall prove the last : 
Alas ! misfortunes travel in a train, 
And oft in life form one perpetual chain : 
Fear buries fear, and ills on ills attend, 
Till life and sorrow meet one common end. 230 

She thinks that she hag nought but death to fear ; 
And death is conquer'd. Worse than death is near : 
Her rigid trials are not yet complete ; 
The news arrives of her great father's fate. 
She sees his hoary head, all white with age, 235 

A victim to the' offended monarch's rage. 
How great the mercy, had she breathed her last 
Ere the dire sentence on her father pass'd ! 

A fonder parent Nature never knew. 
And as his age increased his fondness grew. 240 

A parent's love ne'er better was bestow'd ; 
The pious daughter in her heart o'erflow'd. 
And can she from all weakness still refrain '' 
And still the firmness of her soul maintain ? — 
Impossible ! a sigh will force its way, ' 2-45 

One patient tear her mortal birth betray ; 
■She sighs and weeps ! but so she veeps and sighs. 
As silent dews descend, and vapours rise. 

Celestial Patience ! how dost thou defeat 
The ^oe's proud menace, and elude his hate ! 250 

While Passion takes his part, betrays our peace 
To death and torture swells each slight disgrace ; 
By not opposing thou dost ills destroy, 
And wear thy conquer'd sorrows into joy. 

Now she revolves within her anxious mind 255 

What woe still lingers in reserve behind. 
G riefs rise on griefs, and she can see no bound, 
While nature lasts, and can receive a wound. 
The sword is drawn ; the queen to rage inclin'd, 
Pv mercy nor by piety confined. 2C0 



THE FORCi: OF RELIGION. SSI 

"Wliat mercy can the zealot's heart assuage, 
Whose piety itself converts to rage ? 
She tliought, and sigh'd ; and now the blood began 
To leave her beauteous cheek all cold and wan : 
New sorrow dimm'd the lustre of her eye, 265 

And on her cheek the fading roses die. 
Alas ! should Guilford too — When now she's brought 
To that dire view, that precipice of thought, 
While there she trembling stands, nor. dares look down, 
Nor can recede, till Heaven's decrees are known, 270 
Cure of all ills, till now, her lord appears — 
But not to cheer her heart, and dry her tears ? 
Not now, as usual, like the rising day, 
To chase the shadows and the damps away ; 
But like a gloomy storm, at once to sweep 275 

And plunge her to the bottom of the deep. 
Black were his robes, dejected was his air, 
His voice was frozen by his cold despair ; 
Slow, like a ghost, he moved with solemn pace } 
A dying paleness sat upon his face : — 280 

Back she recoil'd, she smote her lovely breast, 
Her eyes the anguish of her heart confess'd : 
Struck to the soul, she stagger'd with the wound, 
And sunk, a breathless image, to the ground. 

Thus the fair lily, when the sky's o'ercast, 2S5 

At first but shudders in the feeble blast ; 
But when the winds and weighty rains descend, 
The fair and upright stem is forced to bend, 
Till broke, at length, its snowy leaves are shed, 
And strew with dying sweets their native bed. 290 



BOOK II. 

Her Guilford clasps her, beautiful in death, 
And with a kiss recals Iier fleeting breath : 
To tapers thus, which by a blast expire, 
•A lighted taper, touch'd, restores the fife. 



\i62 THE FORO; OF ilELIGION. b. ii. 

She reard her swimming eye, and saw the light, 5 
And Guilford, too, or she had loath'd the sight. 
Her father's death she bore, despised her own, 
But now she must, she will, have leave to groan. 
' Ah ! Guilford !' she began, and would have spoke, 
But sobs rush'd in, and every accent broke : 10 

Reason itself, as gusts of passion blew, 
Was ruffled in the tempest, and withdrew. 

So the youth lost his image in the well, 
When tears upon the yielding surface fell ; 
The scatter'd features slid into decay, 15 

And spreading circles drove his face away. 

Td touch the soft affections, and control 
The manly temper of the bravest soul, 
What with afflicted beauty can compare, ' 

And drops of love distilling from the fair ? 20 

It melts us down ; our pains delight bestow, 
And we with fondness languish o'er our woe. 

This Guilford proved ; and, with excess of pain, 
And pleasure too, did to his bosom strain 
The weeping fair : sunk deep In soft desire, 25 

Indulged in love, and nursed the raging fire ; 
Then tore himself away ; and, standing wide, 
As fearing a relapse of fondness, cried. 
With ill dissembled grief, ' My life ! forbear ; 
You wound your Guilford with each cruel tear : 30 
Did you not chide my grief? repress your own. 
Nor want compassion for yourself alone. 
Have you beheld how, from the distant main. 
The thronging waves roll on, a numerous train, 
And foam, and bellovv', till they reach the shore, 35 
There burst their noisy pride, and are no more ? 
Thus the successive flov/s of human race, 
Chased by the coming, the preceeding chase ; 
They sound and swell, their haughty heads they real*, 
Then fall and flatten, break and disappear. 40 

Life is a forfeit we must shortly -|)ay, 
And Where's the mighty lucre of a day c 



The force of religion. 283 

Why shouid you mourn my fate ? 'tis most unkind j 

Your own you bore with an unshaken mind : 

And which, can you imagine, was the dart 45 

That drank most blood, sunk deepest in my heart ? 

1 cannot live without you ; and my doom 

1 meet with joy, to share one common tomb.— 

And are again your tears profusely spill'd .'* 

Oh ! then, my kindness blackens to my guilt 1 50 

It foils itself if it recal your pain : — 

Life of my life ! I beg you to refrain : 

The load which Fate imposes you increase, 

And help Maria to destroy my peace.' 

But, oh ! against himself his labour turn'd ; 55 

The more he comforted the more she mourn'd. 
Compassion swells our grief; words soft and kind 
But sooth our weakness, and dissolve the mind. 
Her sorrov/ flow'd in streams ; nor hers alone ; 
While that he blamed, he yielded to his own. 60 

Where are the smiles she wore when she, so late, 
Hail'd him great partner of the regal state ; 
When orient gems around her temples blazed, 
And bending nations on the glory gazed .? 

'Tis now the queen's command they both retreat 65- 
To weep with dignity, and mourn in state : 
She forms the decent misery with joy, 
And loads with pomp the wretch she would destroy. 
A spacious hall is hung with black, ail light 
Shut out, and noon-day darken'd into^night : 70 

From the mid-roof a lamp depends on high, 
Like a dim crescent in a clouded sky ; 
It sheds a quivering, melancholy gloom, 
Which only shows the darkness of the room • 
A shining axe is on the table laid, 75 

A dreadful sight ! and glitters through the shade. 

In this sad scene the lovers are confined, 
A scene of terrors to a guilty mind ! 
A scene that would have dainp'd with rising, cares. 
And quite extinguish 'd everv love but theirs. 80 



234 XHE FORCE OF RELIGION. b. n 

'Wfiat can they do ? they fix their mournful eyes.— 

Then Guilford thus, abruptly : ' 1 despise 

An empire lost ; I fling away the crown ; 

Numbers have laid that bright delusion down ; 

But where's the Charles, or Dioclesian where, 83 

Could quit the blooming, wedded, weeping fair ? 

Oh ! to dwell ever on thy lip ! to stand 

In fall possession of thy snowy hand ! 

And, through the' unclouded crystal of thy eye, 

Tlie heavenly treasures of thy mind to spy ! 00 

Till rapture reason happily destroys, 

And my soul wanders through immortal joys ! 

^ive me the world, and ask me, ' Where's my bliss ? 

I clasp thee to my breast, and answer This. 

And shall the grave' — He groans, and can no more, 95 

But all her charms in silence traces o'er ; 

Her lip, her cheek, and eye, to wonder wrought, 

And wondering sees, in sad presaging thought, 

From that fair neck, that world of beauty, fall, 

And roll along the dust, a ghastly ball ! 100 

Oh ! let those tremble who are greatly bless'd ! 
For who but Guilford could be thus distress'd ? 
<^ome hither, all you happy I all you great ! 
From flowery meadows, and from rooms of state; 
jNTor think I call your pleasures to destroy, 105 

But to refine, and to exalt your joy : 
Weep not ; but, smiling, fix your ardent care 
On nobler titles tlian the brave or fair. 

Was ever \inch. a mournful, moving sight ? 
See, if you can, by that dim, trembling light : 110 

Now they embrace ; and, mix'd with bitter woe. 
Like Isis and her Thames, one stream they flow : 
Now they start wide ; fix'd in benumbing care, 
They stiffen into statues of despair : 
Now tenderly severe and fiercely kind, 115 

They rush at once ; they flmg their cares behind, 
And clasrp, as if to death ; new vows repeat, 
<\n^ (|urte wrA]T»p'd itp in love, forgfet their fate \ 



THE FORCE OF RELIOIOJ^. 285 

A short delusion ; for the raging pain 

Returns, and their poor hearts must bleed again. 126 

Meantime, the queen new cruelty decreed ; 
But ill content that they should only bleed, 
A priest is sent, who, with insidious art, 
Instils his poison into Suffolk's heart, 
And Guilford drank it : hanging tm the breast, 125 
He from his childhood was with Rome possess'd. 
When now the ministers of Death draw nigh, 
And in her dearest lord she first must die, 
The subtle priest, who long had watch'd to find 
The most unguarded passes of her mind, 130 

Bespoke her thus : ' Grieve not ; 'tis in your power 
Your lord to rescue from this fatal hour.' 
Her bosom pants ; she draws her breath with pain ; 
A sudden horror thrills through every vein ; 
Life seems suspended, on his words intent, 135 

And her soul trembles for the great event. 

The priest proceeds : ' Embrace the faith of Rome, 
And ward your own, your lord's, and father's doom.' 
Ye blessed spirits ! now your charge sustain : 
The past was ease : now first she suffers pain. 140 
Must she pronounce her father's death ? must she 
Bid Guilford bleed ? — It must not, cannot be. 
It cannot be ! but 'tis the Christian's praise. 
Above impossibilities to raise 

The weakness of our nature, and deride X45 

Of vain philosophy the boasted pride. 
What though our feeble sinews scarce impart 
A moment's swiftness to the feather'd dart ; 
Though tainted air ow vigorous 3'outh can break, 
And a chill blast the hardy warrior shake ? ' 150 

Yet are we strong ; hear the loud tempest roar 
From east to west, and call us weak no more : 
The lightning's unresisted force proclaims 
Our might, and thunders raise our humble names • 
'Tis our Jehovah fills the heavens ; as long /155 

As he shall reign Almighty, we are strong : 



S8G THE p'ORCiK OT EELIGION. b. ii*. 

*We, by devotion, borrow from his throne, 

And almost make Omnipotence our own : 

We force the gates of heaven by fervent prayer, 

And call forth triumph out of man's despair. 160 

Our lovely mourner, kneeling, lifts her eyes 
And bleeding heart, in silence, to the skies, 
X)evoutly sad — then, brightening, like the day, 
When sudden winds sweep scatter'd clouds away, 
iShining in majesty, till now unknown, IGo 

And breathing life and spirit scarce her own, 
She, rising, speaks-; ' If these the terms — ' 

Here Guilford, eruel Guilford ! (barbarous man ! 
Is this thy love ?) as swift as lightning ran, 
Oerwhelln'd her, with tempestuous sorrow fraught, 
And stifled, in its birth, the mighty thought : 171 

Then, bursting fresh into a flood of tears, 
Fierce, resolute, delirious with his fears. 
His fears for her alone, he beat- his breast. 
And thus the fervour of his soul express'd : 175 

Oh ! let thy thought o'er our past converse rove, 
And show one moment uninflamed with love ! 
Oh ! if thy kindness can no longer last, 
In pity to thyself forget the past ! 
Else wilt thou never, void of shame and fear, 180 

Pronounce his doom v/hom thou hast held so dear : 
Thou, who hast took me to thy arms, and swore 
Empires were vile, and Fate could give no more ', 
That to continue was its utmost power. 
And make the future like the present hour : 185 

Now call a ruffian, bid his cruel sword 
Tiay wide the bosom of thy worthless lord : 
Transfix his heart (since you its love disclaim) 
And stain his honour with a traitor's name. 
This might perhaps be borne without remorse, lOD 
But sure a father's pangs will have their force ! 
S.hall his goad age, so near its journey's end. 
Through ci*T>el torment lo the grave descend ' 



THE FORCES OF RELIGIO;^? 'iS7 

His shallow blood all issue at a wound, 
Wash a slave's feet, and smoke upon the ground ? 195 
But he to you has everbeen severe ; 
Then take your vengeance' — Suffolk now drew ne^, 
Bendhig beneath the burden of his care, 
His robes neglected and his head was bare : 
Decrepit Winter, in the yearly ring, 200 

Thus slowly creeps to meet the blooming Spring : 
Downward he cast a melancholy look, 
Thrice turn'd to hide his grief, then faintly spoke :— « 
' Now deep in years, and forward in decay, 
That axe can only rob me of a day : 205 

For thee, my soul's desire ! I can't refrain ; 
And shall ray tears, my last tears, flow in vain*? 
When you shall know a mother's tender name, 
My heart's distress no longer will you blame.' 
At this, afar his bursting groans were heard ; 210 

The tears ran trickling down his silver beard : 
He snatch'd her hand, which to his lips he press'd,. 
And bid her ' plant a dagger in his breast ;' 
Then, sinking, call'd ' her piety unjust,' 
And soil'd his hoary temples in the dust, 215 

Hard-hearted men ! will you no mercy know ? 
Has the queen bribed you to distress her foe ? 
O weak deserters to Misfortune's part, 
By false affection thus to pierce her heart ! 
W^hen she had soar'd, to let your arrows fly, 220 

And fetch her bleeding from the middle sky. 
And can her virtue, springing from the ground, 
Her flight recover, and disdain the wound. 
When cleaving love and human interest bind 
The broken force of her aspiring mind ? 225 

As round the generous eagle, which in vain 
Exerts her strength, the serpent wreaths his train, 
Her struggling wings entangles, curling plies 
His poisonous tail, and stings her as she flies. 

While yet the blow's first dreadful weight she f<ie\%. 
And with its force her r^sohtfioh r^Is, 231 



J>8S THE FORCE OF RELIGlOJJf.' e. n. 

Large doors, unfolding with a mournful sound 

To view discover, w^eltering on the ground, 

Three headless trunks of those v^rhose arms maintain'd, 

And in her wars immortal glory gain'd : 235 

The lifted axe assured her ready doom, 

And silent mourners sadden'd all the room ;— • 

Shall I proceed, or here break off my tale, 

Nor truths to stagger human faith reveal ? 

She met this utmost malice of her fate S40 

With Christian dignity and pious state ; 
The beating storm's propitious rage she bless'd, 
And all the martyr triumph'd in her lu^east. 
Her lord and father, f'^r a moment's space, 
She strictly folded in her soft embrace ! 245 

Then tlms she spoke while angels heard onliigh, 
And sudden gladness smiled along the sky : 

' Your over-fondness has not moved my hate ; 
1 am well pleased you make my death so great : 
X joy I cannot save you ^ and have given 250 

Two lives, much dearer than my own, to Heaven, 
If su the queen decrees* — But I have cause 
To hope my blood will satisfy the laws ; 
If there is mercy still, for you, in stofe : 
With me the 'bitterness of death is o'er ; 855 

He shot his stmg in that farewell embrace, 
And all, that is to come, is joy and peace. 
Then let mistaken sorrow be suppressed, 
Nor seem to envy my approaching rest.' 
Then, turning to the ministers of Fate, SCO 

J5he, smiling, says, ' My victory's complete ; 
And tell your queen 1 thank her for the blo\v, 
And grieve my gratitude I cannot show. 
A poor return I leave m England's crown, 
For everlasting pleasure and renown : 265 

Her guilt alone allays this happy hour ; 
Her guilt, — the only vengeance in her power.' 

Not Rome, untouch'd with sorrow, heard her fate. 
And fierce Mar^a pitied her too late. 

" ■) * H^rc she em ©races them. 



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